


Flooded

by IAmWhelmed



Series: Betrayal [2]
Category: Paranatural (Webcomic)
Genre: Adventure, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-16
Updated: 2015-03-13
Packaged: 2018-03-13 08:20:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 32,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3374411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IAmWhelmed/pseuds/IAmWhelmed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to Electrical Shock. Deaths start piling up on Mayview Beach, and it's up to the Activity Club to solve the crime. That might be hard; as Isabel struggles with the possibility of losing Ed, Max fights with dreams that are feeling too real, and Spender investigates something Isaac said during the battle at Man's Rise Cave.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Max shrieked as he tripped over one of Zoey’s shoes that was left on the staircase. Down he went, tumbling to the bottom of the stairs.  
The sound alerted his father to his existence and the man grinned from ear-to-ear. “Morning, Son!”

There was a beat of silence as Max fixed his hat, then “Morning, Dad.”  
Isaac stood on the other side of the counter, stuffing his money back into his pocket. “You!”

“You!” Max pointed as he stood, but fell flat on his chin immediately to which Isaac snorted and walked around to help him up. He set his hands on Max’s arms and slowly Max began to stand. “You’re a little early today.”

Usually Isaac would show up about five minutes after Max got downstairs and Max would sit and wait for him. Of course- Max would always pretend he hadn’t been waiting.

Isaac’s eyes widened and he looked down at his pocket. “Well that’s because I rushed here. Guess what Isabel texted me?”

“A sext?” Max’s dad asked.

Max groaned and made a face Isaac snickered at. “I’m starting to think you know what it means and you’re just embarrassing me with it!”

His father chuckled darkly and went up the stairs to make sure Zoey was awake.

“What did she send you that you felt you couldn’t wait to show me?”

Since the entire fiasco with Conall, Isabel and Ed had become much friendlier with Isaac. On occasion they’d be bored in the clubroom after school with nothing to do while Spender did anything but teach. Max would be tired and using Isaac’s shoulder as a pillow, Isabel would be twirling her umbrella on the tip of her finger and Ed would be slung over the armrest of the chair. Then Isaac would get a text, look at it, and get angry at Isabel or Ed about something ‘not being funny’ to which the two would laugh and Max would be really confused.

Usually when he asked to see the message, Isaac would get red in the face and hold his phone far, far away from Max. He would say “Don’t worry about it!” and Max would never know what it said.

On their way out of the corner store, Isaac took his phone out of his pocket and handed it to him. “Take a look.”

Max opened the message app, found Isabel’s name and tapped on it. “God your phone is slow.”

“Blame my parents. That phone is like three years old and they can’t see I need a new one.” Isaac shrugged but point at the device. “Look at what she said.”

Max gasped.

“No…”

“Yep.”

“No way!”

Isaac snickered and nodded. That had been his reaction, too.

“Ed has a girlfriend?!”

“Uh huh, and Isabel doesn’t like her one bit.” Max stared down at the phone, wide-eyed. “You’re kidding me!”

“Well it was bound to happen sometime.” As Isaac talked, Max suddenly became very curious. Poor, unsuspecting Isaac had handed him his phone- therefor all of the texts Isabel and/or Ed had sent him that he hadn’t let Max see! With a sneaky smirk on his face, he scrolled up Isaac’s messages to see if Isaac had deleted it.

He found it.

'Aw u & max luk soo cut. I ship it.'

Max felt his cheeks warm up. What?! Him and Isaac?! Together?! Isabel was even crazier than he thought she was. There was no way in a million years he would ever look at Isaac like that!

Isaac reached over and gently took the phone from Max’s hands. As he did so, the tips of his fingers shifted against Max’s. It was just enough for Max to feel the warmth of Isaac’s hand and a bolt of electricity Isaac hadn't made.

Max flashed back to shutting down the machine in Man’s Rise Cave and felt a drop in his stomach that wasn’t all too unpleasant when he remembered how Isaac’s hand felt under his own. Feeling Isaac return the friendly (affectionate) gesture, after the medium had tossed him every which way and threatened him, was almost therapeutic. He turned to Isaac to complain about him taking the phone too soon but when he’d looked, he found the medium’s eyes already locked on his. There was a warm smile on his face that could melt the heart of the Vice Principal. He'd really started smiling more after the Conall situation. Now, it was becoming apparent that he was feeling more comfortable calling Max his friend. “I guess there’s somebody for everyone, you know?”

Max’s heart skipped a beat.

He couldn't stop staring. The blue of Isaac's eyes, shining in humor, had him trapped in a cage he couldn't escape, even if he wanted to.

Isaac frowned when Max continued to stare at him and not respond. He waved a hand in front of his face. “Max? Hello? Are you in there?”

His friend grumbled and stuffed his hands in his pockets, facing the rod ahead of them. “Yeah, whatever, I’m fine.” Isaac pouted but shrugged and decided to leave it be. Max would talk to him about it eventually.

\-- School --

Isabel rolled her eyes as she followed behind Ed and his girlfriend, Cindy. With a hand tucked in his, she obviously felt like she was the lightest thing on earth.  
She’d feel really light when Isabel knocked her brains out- if she had any.

As Isabel stewed in her hatred, Ed was laughing and nodding along to the story Cindy was telling.

“I had no idea what to do, so I just let the puppy out the back door and waited until the bear was done eating.”

“Wow! You’re really quick on your feet, huh?”

Cindy blushed and twirled a strand of her blonde hair in her finger. “I wouldn’t say that…”

Ed loved everything about her, from her flower dresses to her curly blonde hair to her laugh to her mary-janes. He was positive- he'd found the one. Ed sighed and tightened his hand around hers. “You’re so pretty.”

Cindy giggled and reciprocated his touch by leaning over and kissing his cheek, making his already-pink face fiery red. “And you are so sweet!”

Isabel silently mouthed her words mockingly and made kissy noises.

“Wow, you really hate her, don’t you?”

“I don’t think you even know.” Isabel kicked the closest locker and turned around. “Hey, Max. Hey, Isaac.”

Max waved coolly while Isaac smiled and nodded.

“Hey, so what’s the deal with morning patrol?”

“Ed and I had it. It was nothing but the sister of that groundhog spirit we took care of a while ago. She wanted revenge for her brother’s new home inside of a cooking utensil.”

“I’d be pretty mad, too if my sister was going to be used to stir batter the rest of her life.” Max snickered and he and Isaac separated to walk on either side of Isabel. The girl sighed and slumped as she walked. “Look at them. She’s so soft and… ditzy! She could never hold her own in a fight! Why does he like her?!”

Isaac nudged her shoulder cautiously. “Isabel, don’t you think you’re a little um…”

“Jealous?” Max finished, raising an eyebrow.

Isabel sputtered. “M-Me?! Jealous?! What- bu- I- nau-!” Her face grew dark and filled with rage- terrifying enough that Max and Isaac purposefully fell behind her to avoid her wrath. “No. I am not jealous.” Her frenzied gaze turned back to Ed, whose eyes were locked adoringly on Cindy. She'd never seen him look at anyone that way- especially girls who couldn't throw a proper punch. Upon Cindy leaning to whisper in Ed's ear, Isabel turned away with her arms crossed. “He’s like a brother to me, that’s gross!”

“I wasn’t saying like that.” Isaac got his courage back up after her focus wasn’t on himself and Max anymore. “He’s your best friend and now that he has a girlfriend, she’s taking up all his time.”

“So there’s no more ‘hey Ed let’s go destroy this’ or ‘Ed let’s go fight that’, huh?”

Isabel flinched and the boys put even more distance between their bodies and her fury.

Isaac elbowed Max warningly. They both sighed and dropped the subject.

\-- The Clubroom --

Mister Spender grimaced as he watched the news from his computer.  
Thousands dead. Beach is still open due to heavy tourism, but under investigation. Nobody knows what happened.

Everyone drowned.

He stopped the video and closed the tab before leaning back in his chair and rubbing the bridge of his nose. “It seems like we have our next spirit.”

“That sounds a little dangerous.” Isaac murmured, sitting on the armrest of the couch opposite of Max’s seat on the actual cushion (much to Max’s disappointment- HE DIDN’T CARE. WHY WOULD HE CARE ABOUT THAT?! NO REASON TO CARE THAT HIS PILLOW WAS SO FAR AWAY). “Well of course it is!” Isabel grinned and punched the palm of her other hand. “But that means it’s going to be pretty fun!”

“I’m not sending you children to fight anything.” Spender leaned forward so that he was sitting up against the desk. “I’m sending you to investigate a nearby pond. It’s where the bodies were found but not where they were when they died. Ask their ghosts a few questions if there are any around.”

“What do you think we’ll find?” Max asked cautiously. Even though Spender sent them out on simple and safe missions pretty often, most of the time they turned out to be some of the most dangerous ones.

“I’m not sure. Look for any run-offs the bodies could have flowed in from.”  
Max quirked an eyebrow. “Aren’t the cops pretty heavy over there? If that's where the dead bodies are then the pond should be under investigation, too.”

Spender nodded. “You’ll have to find a way around them.”

“Great! Let’s go!”

Isaac and Max simultaneously sighed and stood up, following her out.  
“Boys?” They paused and looked back. Spender raised an eyebrow. “Where is Ed?”

They both laughed, looked at each-other, and shrugged.


	2. Chapter 2

“I would like for you to meet my parents.”

Ed spit out his juice.

Cindy looked unfazed by his attitude, even laughing at how funny it was he did a spit-take in the middle of a fast food joint. Ed coughed on what had gone down the wrong hole and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. “Your... parents? Um, don’t you think it’s a little soon?”

“Absolutely not!” Cindy shook her head back and forth quickly. “I really like you, so it only makes sense that you meet Mommy and Daddy!” Ed felt his heart racing. This was not good. Of course he liked her a lot, and the idea behind meeting her parents made him really happy because that’s what real couples did- but the thought of actually meeting her parents scared the living daylights out of him. What if she had a father like Isabel’s grandfather? What if he hated him and secretly aspired to kill him so that it looked like an accident?!

Okay he’d probably survive considering he was a spectral and he trained every day but still-!

What if they hated him?

“I um, think we’re a little young to be getting that close, Cindy.”

She giggled and tilted her head. “That’s B.S and you know it, Edward Burger.”

Her voice, while cheery, was petrifying and heart-stopping. She knew him already.

“Cindy I mean it! It’s not-!”

He stopped when she reached across the table and held his hand, tangling her fingers in his. Ed blushed and shut up, looking at their hands then at her smiling face. She was laughing at him. “I know. You’re scared of my parents. I understand. I’ve run into the problem before.”

Ed pouted. Of course he realized she must have had other boyfriends. As beautiful as she was, he was shocked she was wasting her time on him. “But my parents are really accepting people. Sure, they won’t take us seriously and that’s to be expected- but the point is that I like you a lot a lot, so you don’t need to worry.” She leaned forward and kissed his hand and held it in both of hers. “They’ll know you make me happy, Ed.”

Her grin was contagious and he felt himself slipping into the sickness, too. His other hand found its way over hers and he leaned forward. “Cindy you are so perfect for me.”

\-- Rudiment Pond --

“WHAT?!” Isabel’s hair went flying all around her as the volume of her voice made the entire area shake and created blowback. Isaac jumped into Max’s arms in a panic, wrapping his arms around his neck so he wouldn’t fall while Max’s arms looped around his legs and waist. They quickly backed away from the growing storm that was Isabel’s fury. The ghost of a little middle-aged man she’d been interrogating trembled and shrunk in fear. She’d been in a horrible mood since they’d been forced to go investigating without Ed and it showed. “Repeat what you just said.” There was silence. “WELL?!”

The ghost yelped and covered his head. “I said that the woman who killed us is planning on creating a tsunami once she’s collected enough souls!”

“Well then how are you here?” Isaac asked. Max felt the arms around his neck tighten. “If she’s collecting your souls then how are you-?”

“A few of us were able to fight and get away.” The ghost whimpered and swayed back and forth with every tear. “Some of us- like my wife- weren’t so lucky.”

“How did she catch you guys?”

“She sang a song that lured us down to the beach while we slept. Then when we were deep enough in the water, she grabbed us and pulled us under!”

A siren? Those didn’t actually exist, though. Isabel frowned and crossed her arms. “Okay, how did your bodies end up here?”

“There’s a sewer nearby that she tosses us into. Our bodies just sort of… float here.”

\-- School --

“And that’s all he said?” Mister Spender tapped his fingers irritably on his desk. “That’s all he knew.” Isabel shrugged.

“If he knew more, believe me, Isabel could have gotten it out of him.” Max mumbled under his breath. Isaac elbowed him as a warning.

Mister Spender sighed and leaned back in his chair, laying his arms on the armrests. “This is troubling. Everything you’ve reported sounds like a siren.”

“But those don’t exist, right?” Isaac asked, scratching his head nervously. Spender shook his head. “No, they don’t exist. That’s why this news is problematic. That means we have a rather powerful spirit on our hands. Tracking its movements is going to be difficult with the beach being so far away, especially if we’re in school all day long. We can’t afford to drive out there every night.” They were still kids. They needed their rest. He was not about to let the life of a spectral get in the way of their health and education.

The group was silent.

“Well…” Isabel rubbed her arm as a smile slowly made its way onto her face. “There is one thing we could do.”

\-- Crowning Glory Beach --

Spender sighed and laid his head on the wheel of his car after he’d parked perfectly (slightly crooked and gave up trying to fix it after three times). “How did I let you kids convince me to do this?”  
Getting school business for a week at the beach was not an easy feat, and renting a beach house was even harder to do on a teacher’s wage. Had he not practically begged BL, Spender couldn’t have imagined this would ever have come to fruition. “Woo hoo! Beach partay!”

Ed and Isabel high-fived as they tore the door of the car open and piled out to open the trunk. “No!” Spender yelled, pointing a finger at them in the rearview mirror. “No! We are not here for that! This is strictly business, children!”  
Isabel and Ed looked up and secretly gave him skeptical looks from where they stood in front of the trunk then went back to dragging their suitcases away. “Oh man I am so looking forward to this!” Ed snickered as they ran down the beach to their waterfront beach house. “Good job convincing him, Isabel!”

She giggled as they slid down the slope. She rejoiced in feeling the sand between her toes. It wasn’t often that she and Ed got to go to the beach. After all, they lived with a man who thought that ‘fun’ was a waste of time in comparison to training. This was a nice change. “What can I say? I’m an excellent negotiator!” In all truth, she was just happy because the further from the actual city they were, the further Ed was from Cindy. Just thinking of her had Isabel’s grip on her bags tightening at dangerous levels. Cindy didn’t matter right now. She was going to have all week to remind Ed of what a cool sister she was and when they got back things would be the way they always were.

“I can’t believe Spender is actually letting us do this.” Max said, pulling his suitcase out of the trunk. Isaac stood behind him, slinging one small bag over his shoulder and holding another. “I know, right? It makes me wonder if he just wanted to come to the beach himself.”

Max snickered. He wouldn’t put it past their teacher to have secondary motives. He was willing to believe Spender needed the vacation as much as they did.

Once they got in the front door, jaws dropped and there were gasps of surprise. “Oh my god! Look at all of it! This place is beautiful!”

“I call that big room over there!”

“No, Ed. You’re sharing that room with whoever wants to sleep with you.”

Max snickered and elbowed Isaac. “Cindy, maybe?” Isaac chuckled into his hand until he noticed Isabel’s demonic eyes upon them. He punched Max’s arm and pointed. Max looked her way and immediately stopped laughing.

“So… Max and I can take that room, Isabel and Ed that room, and that room can be yours, sir?” Spender smiled and shrugged. “We have a few hours before nighttime. Go nuts, kids.”

\-- Isabel and Ed’s Room --

“This is great! I can’t wait to go surfing!”

“Ed, you don’t know how to surf.”

“I have to learn somehow!”

Isabel giggled and jumped onto their bed, laying with her arms spread from one end to the other. This was wonderful already. Things with Ed felt back to normal the moment they’d jumped into the car. Ed had sung his obnoxious show tunes with Isaac and Spender occasionally joining in while Max loudly grumbled every time a new song would come on. She’d popped the window open so she and Ed could yell at people and scare them as they passed them on the street. Now they were joking just like they used to.  
“You don’t think Mister Spender can make breakfast, do you? I don’t. I think we’ll have to do it ourselves. I can see him as the type of person who burns the rental house down.”

When Ed didn’t respond, she raised an eyebrow and sat up. “Ed?”

When she saw him on his phone, she smiled wearily. “What are you doing?”

“I’m just texting Cindy! She says she might be able to come down the last two days we’re here!”

Isabel’s smile turned into a firm pout. “She can, can she?”

“She thinks so. It depends on her parent’s work schedules!”

He grinned from ear-to-ear and sat down on the recliner across from her. “Her parents are entrepreneurs! Awesome, right?”

“Yeah…” Isabel mumbled and she looked around the room. “Awesome.”

\-- Max and Isaac’s Room --

“Oh. My. God.” Max looked around the room, eyes wide as he took the scenery in. They’d chosen the view with the sliding glass door. The beach ran right up to their porch and they couldn’t see anything else for miles away. “This is beautiful…” Isaac was breathless, dropping his bags on the floor in shock.

“That’s it.” Max laughed, grabbing his suitcase and running to the bathroom to their right. “I’m going swimming!”

Isaac watched him go, startled. “You- Max! That’s so unfair!”

“You gotta be faster than that, Sparky!”

Isaac looked from the bathroom door to the ocean, frowning. “Actually, are we sure it’s a good idea to go swimming at all?”

“You heard the ghost! Whatever this thing is attacks at night! We’ve got a few hours before the sun goes down. We’ll be fine.”

A few minutes passed and Max was out of the bathroom, running to their sliding glass door. He was already loving this whole ‘field trip’. Before he could take a step outside, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Max gasped and turned around to see Isaac standing there with sunscreen spray in his hand. He was already fully in his swimming wear. Max’s jaw dropped. “What? How-?”

“I’m pretty fast to get dressed, Max.”

Max opened his mouth to say something, but quickly shut it as there was nothing to be said. “While the day is pretty close to ending, it’s probably safer that we put sunscreen on anyway. It wouldn’t be good to face off against a siren spirit and have sunburn, you know?”

Max nodded. After they sprayed each-other down (meaning Max started a sunscreen fight by spraying Isaac’s hair with it and Isaac reciprocated by opening Max’s swimsuit and spraying it down his butt), they were splashing water at each-other, racing to see who could find the most sand-dollars and snails, and dunking each-other’s heads under the water. Max found probably more humor in Isaac’s wet hair than he should have, because Isaac was crossing his arms and pouting like a small child. “I thought your hair was naturally spiky!”

“It is when it’s dry!”

“Uh-huh. Sure it is.”

Isaac tried to punch his arm blindly, but missed while Max chuckled. “Okay, okay, fine. We can toss a Frisbee around. But not before we get your hair out of your face. I can’t take you seriously when you look like a deflated Goku!”  
He heard a small snicker out of Isaac and knew his friend wasn’t mad anymore, which was a relief because- well, why was it a relief?

Max reached up and cupped Isaac’s forehead in his hands under the hair, smoothing his unruly strands back in a princely style. “See? Now I can look at you without laughing the hardest I’ve ever laughed in my life-!”

He stopped short. Now that the hair was out of his face, he could see Isaac’s eyes and they were bearing directly into his own like a heatwave. In the light of the sun, his eyes almost seemed multicolored. They were doing his anime sparkly-thing but in a much different way than Max was used to. This time, it made his stomach flop over and his hands tingle in- anticipation? He felt his face warm up as Isaac looked at him confused.

The way he tilted his head wasn’t helping because that movement forced Max’s hands down the back of Isaac’s head and to his neck, where Max felt a buzz zap him. He wasn’t so sure Isaac did that. “Max, are you okay? You’re looking a little pink. Did we use enough sunscreen?” It occurred to Max that if he applied just the right amount of pressure, he could pull Isaac toward him until he would feel his breath on his lips. Maybe Isaac would reach up to loosely grab his wrists so that Max could feel him shivering like he was. Maybe Isaac would ask him what he was doing in a whisper (but he wouldn’t push him away) and Max could answer him by closing the distance and-!

Max pulled away like Isaac had conjured electricity, face an absurd shade of red as his arms went flying in every which direction while he tried to explain himself.

Isaac’s face scrunched up in bewilderment and he shrugged. “Um, okay? Do you want to go back inside or play Frisbee?”

“Inside we should probably go inside!”

Max twisted on his heel and walked toward the beach house as quickly as he could, leaving Isaac sitting there wondering what had happened.


	3. Chapter 3

As night fell, the Activity Club was gearing up to do a stake-out.

Ed helped Isabel tie the umbrella over her shoulder by drawing a thick black line across her chest. She smiled and thanked him.

Max stuck his bat into his backpack and zipped it up as far as it would go. He stole a peek at Isaac, who was looking back at him already. Max flinched when their eyes met and turned around so Isaac couldn’t see his face dusting pink. Isaac frowned.

“Children, are you prepared?”

When all four kids nodded, Spender walked across the room from the kitchen to the front door. “Each of you has something to cover your ears, correct?”

They all held up earbuds for him to see. He smiled, pleased at how prepared his students were. “I’ll be taking the south side of the beach. Isabel and Ed take the west side while Max and Isaac take the east.”

He handed each of them a walkie-talkie. “Let the rest of us know immediately if you see somebody walking around or, in the case you confront the spirit directly, let the rest of us know that you’ve found it.”

It would be a few minutes before they reached the main paths to the different sides of the beach, and Max was walking towards the back, loving every last second he had before he’d be stuck with Isaac all night long… alone. He hissed angrily at himself and lifted his cap to readjust his hair. Why was he thinking about Isaac this way? When did he start feeling like a blobby mess every time he was alone with him? Of course being around Isaac always relaxed him; he maybe even felt safe. Max had never thought of those feelings of security being any sort of… attraction.

His mind flashed back to the text from Isabel.

'Aw u & max luk soo cut. I ship it.'

Isabel gasped when she felt a strong hand on her shoulder that yanked her backwards without anyone noticing.

Her hand blazed bright red and she turned around to throw a punch. “Hey, hey, hey! It’s just me!” A voice hissed. Isabel sighed in relief and rested her hand against her hip. “Max, you scared the heck out of me! What is this about?!”  
Max put a hand over her mouth and hissed. “Keep your voice down!”

He glanced forward to the rest of the group to see if anybody had heard them. Much to Max’s delight, Isaac was talking to Ed about something and Spender wasn’t paying attention at all as he was seemingly focused on his thoughts. Isabel’s eyes followed his and she raised an eyebrow. Max took a deep breath and moved his hands from her mouth, stuffing them in his pockets instead. “O… kay? What’s this about?”

“The text.”

“The text? What text?”

“The text, text.”

“Like… a scroll text?”

“No!”

“I’m lost you’re gonna have to help me out here.”

Max ran his hands over his face and down his neck, trying to calm himself down. “You sent Isaac a text last week that said you thought we looked cute together!”

Her eyes widened in recognition and she giggled under her breath. “Isaac finally let you see that, huh?”

Max recoiled. “No… not really.” Isabel opened her mouth to ask, but he poked her chest with an accusing finger. “That’s not the point! What did you mean by that?”

“I meant what anybody else would have meant, Max. You two look good together!” Her concerned frown shifted to become a thoughtful smile, maybe a little mischievous if he was paying close enough attention. “Why? Have you been thinking a lot about this?”  
Max glared at her and crossed his arms. Of course, Isabel noticed how his frown was more of a pout and an effort to hide how red his cheeks were getting. He kept his eyes locked on their friends- well, one specific friend…

Whatever Ed was saying was making Isaac laugh, because he was grinning and his shoulders were shaking. Isaac always hated being loud, as he considered it unruly, but when he laughed it was vibrant and cheerful enough that nobody would ask him to quiet down.

Isaac had a nice smile.

Max grimaced and mentally smacked himself in the face.

“N-No I haven’t it’s just kinda weird that you’d say that.”

“Why is that weird?”

“Isaac and I are loose friends!”

Isabel nodded and chuckled sarcastically, elbowing him in the side. “Uh-huh… loose friends. What’s so loose about you two?”

Max shot her a warning glare and she nearly busted her sides to keep from laughing. “But in all seriousness, you can talk to me, Max. I’m a safe place!” She set a reassuring hand on his shoulder, which he looked at feigning disgust. Isabel was unfazed by his sneer and continued. “It’s okay to be thinking about Isaac. It’s kinda natural to wonder if you’re…”

“I’m not!”

“Well if you were…” She stole his cap and placed it on her head much to his chagrin. “That’d be just fine. Who knows? Maybe he’s thinking the same thing?”

Max wanted to say something and even opened his mouth to yell after her as she jogged to catch up with the rest of the group, but when he looked ahead he caught Isaac staring at him. Their eyes met and Max noticed that in this walkway lighted by torches (very beachy) his face almost looked red. Isaac noticed him watching and smiled.

It was the type of smile that told him Isaac wanted to talk- the kind of smile that just about killed Max.

So of course, he turned away with lightning speed, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he glanced off to the beach homes. He didn’t see Isaac’s smile fall, or the way he mirrored Max’s movements by stuffing his hands in his own pockets and glancing off to the opposite side.

It took them awhile, but eventually they reached the fork in the road where they’d separate. “Stay together. If your partner is going one way- you follow them. Don’t split up to cover more area. It’ll only leave you vulnerable to attack.” Both groups nodded as they went to stand with their companion in front of their path. The teacher already stood in front of his path, readjusting his glasses as he repeated his earlier orders. “One more thing: No matter what you do- don’t lose your earbuds.”  
“Um,” Ed raised his hand. “How are we supposed to hear each-other with earbuds in?”

“You don’t. You should communicate with body language.”

“Then why do we have walkie talkies?” That was Isaac, who had his arms crossed incredulously.

Spender slapped his own face. “If you run into the spirit and they see you, chances are it won’t use its song. It’s already got you. That means you won’t need the earbuds. As for how we’ll know you’re trying to contact us, the walkie talkies vibrate.”  
When everybody seemed pleased with the situation at hand, each group separated to scout their own areas. Max didn’t notice, but behind his back Isabel shoved his hat onto Isaac’s head.  
Isaac glanced at her curiously, but she only winked and turned to follow Ed.

\-- West Side --

Isabel grimaced as she hid behind a stack of wooden boxes, watching the shore silently as the waves crashed against the rocks.  
They’d been sitting there for at least an hour doing nothing and she was shaking with pent up energy.

She wished she could speak to Ed. Even with the earbuds in the way, she was sure they could have held an awesome game of charades as they waited for paranatural activity to pick up.

But no, Ed wanted to text Cindy and giggle to himself. She knew because she could see the pale light of his phone and feel the vibrations of his laughing because he was back-to-back with her. They’d been having a good time on their way down the path to the beach, but somewhere along the way he’d gotten a message from his cute, soft little girlfriend and he’d lost all interest in whatever fun he’d been having with Isabel.

She brought her binoculars down from her eyes and turned to look at him. He didn’t even seem to notice.

He laughed again and she was beginning to wonder what was so funny?

Isabel leaned stealthily over his shoulder to read the texts.

[Cindy] Ill b visting soon

[Ed] I kno im excited

[Cindy] youll get 2 c my parents

[Ed] anything 4 u

[Cindy] will I get 2 meet izzy?

[Ed] shell challenge u 2 a duel

[Cindy] wat?

[Ed] izzy is crazy violent

[Cindy] is she rly?

[Ed] ive seen her fight a water fountain

[Cindy] Haha! Izzy sounds lik fun

Isabel pouted and crossed her arms, glaring holes into the back of Ed’s head. He was talking about her to Cindy! How could he do that? If she had a boyfriend she’d never talk about Ed or call him violent or anything like that! She wasn’t violent (she thought as she wore her pink ‘violence’ shirt).

She raised an eyebrow when she saw him relax; his shoulders that had been bunched up in a show of his excitement seemed to deflate. She leaned over his shoulder again to read the text.

[Cindy] I love you.

“No.” She hissed, getting on her knees to tower over Ed. He wouldn’t!

[Ed] I love you too.

Isabel grabbed either side of her head and screamed angrily, knowing Ed couldn’t hear her. They’d been dating for like, two days! How could they be saying that already?!

She had half the mind to grab his phone and toss it at the water so she’d never see him text Cindy again… at least for the remainder of their stay at the beach.

Maybe then he’d try as hard as she was to rekindle their sibling bond.

\-- South Side --

Spender scanned the parameter of the beach from his spot across two tightly-spaced palm trees. From there, he had an excellent view of the sand and water below him. If there was a victim under a siren’s song he couldn’t hear, he’d see their helpless bodies wandering toward the sea and he’d be able to help them.

Though, he found it awfully hard to concentrate with what had been on his mind lately.

The teacher frowned and leaned further into his hiding place, avoiding detection for the duration he’d be lost in thought.

Something didn’t fit right about the entire situation with Conall. How was Conall the only one to wish revenge upon the Activity Consortium? They’d all been traitors, so why was Conall the only one prideful enough of himself and his decisions to seek retribution?

There was also one more question Spender had.

There was something Isaac said that set his gears spinning- something that sent him on this entire thought process. At the time, Isaac had probably assumed Spender had been in too much pain to hear him, but he did.  
He heard him loud and clear.

Then his walkie talkie started vibrating.

\-- East Side --

Isaac walked at an awkward fast and slow pace, trying to stay ahead of Max but trying to not get too far at the same time. Max always seemed to be a certain distance from him no matter what. If he slowed down, Max would go even slower. If he sped up, Max would keep the same pace.

It was like Max was avoiding him. Was he? Why?

They walked along the trees and grass that hid them from view of enemies, but not their enemies from them (yet Isaac still felt like he was entirely in the open).

Against his better judgment, Isaac pulled one of his earbuds out and swerved on his heel to face Max who was startled by the movement. “Do you wanna tell me what’s up?”

Max’s face twisted in confusion when he saw Isaac talking before he pulled out one earbud of his own. “This is a really bad idea, you know.”

“Well I’m willing to risk it to figure out what’s wrong with you.”

“What’s wrong with me?”

“You’re dodging me like I’m Johnny after that Meatball Madness incident! You have been since earlier today!” Isaac crossed his arms when he saw Max’s expression go from confusion to alarm. “Is there something you wanna tell me?”  
Max’s lips pulled into a tight line as he looked anywhere but Isaac. He couldn’t answer that. He hardly knew why he was avoiding Isaac- how could he explain what he didn’t understand?

Just then, their walkie talkies started vibrating. Quickly, they pulled them out of their pockets and listened for the caller.

“We need help on West! I repeat we need help on West!”

It was Isabel and she sounded like she was in a panic.

“Ed is out of action! I saved him but I-!” They heard coughing coming from her end and a splatter they assumed was water. “I saw it! I saw the spirit! At least part of it… I don’t wanna move on my own with Ed out like this. Get over here!”


	4. Chapter 4

\- West Side -

Isabel had begun mimicking whatever Cindy sent Ed, anywhere from jokes he'd laughed at to cheesy lines there's no way Ed fell for (but he did). She was beginning to wonder why she didn't just break his phone in half.

'Because you love him and that would be a very mean thing to do.' Even her conscious sounded sarcastic.

Fifteen minutes later, she was sitting crisscross behind him, just far enough away that she couldn't tell when he was laughing or not. She was done paying any attention to it. She told herself Ed was just bored. The stakeout was boring him just like it was boring her.

But she was there, too? Why wouldn't he talk to her?

A part of her remembered what Max and Isaac said about her being jealous. While she was sure she was just being protective, she knew deep down she was afraid of-!

Isabel stood up suddenly and emerged from their hideout, walking out into the open. This got Ed's attention. He turned around from where he was sitting to watch Isabel with a raised eyebrow. Deciding she must have some sort of a plan to get things moving, he grinned from ear-to-ear and put his cell on the ground.

She walked out into the center of the beach, hands on hips as she took deep breathes of air. "I know you're here, you spirit-guzzling evil thing! You see me, right? Well I'm the person that's gonna kick your butt so you may as well hurry up and come out from wherever you are!" She felt a tug on her arm and she whipped around ready to attack, only to see Ed standing there entirely unfazed. He knew her well enough to know she'd recognize him before the punch hit. He tilted his head and shrugged his shoulders. For anybody else, it would have been hard to understand him. For her, she knew perfectly well that he meant "What are you doing?"

Isabel sulked and turned her head to the side.

"Getting things moving around here so you won't be bored." She whispered.

Ed raised an eyebrow and took one earbud out. "What did you say?" She saw his mouth move but not what he'd asked.

Then everything went blank for Ed.

Isabel saw his face drop as if he'd suddenly become completely neutral about anyone and anything around him. That was not like Ed. Isabel's face twisted in confusion and she snapped her fingers in front of Ed's face to see if he would respond.

He didn't.

Isabel looked around, readying her fists for a fight, before she heard a very distant tune through her earbuds.

Isabel jerked back around to see Ed walking towards the water, limp like a zombie.

Panic filled her and she chased after him. "Ed!"

She began pulling at him from behind with all her might, even going as far as to yank on his hair. Needless to say, his hair was too short for that to work very well and she'd realized that fairly quickly once she landed on her butt.

Then she tried a different approach, circling around in front of Ed and trying to push him back.

That didn't seem to be working either. She'd managed to slow him down, but Ed continued moving onward. She growled and called his name again.

"Ed! Ugh, snap out of it! I'm trying to keep you from drowning here but I can't do that if you don't work with me!"

She dug her heels into the sand, but they were already waist-deep in the water and the extra force did nothing. "Ed! Ed wake up! ED!"

Suddenly Isabel found herself pushing against a wall that wasn't moving. She looked up to find that Ed was staring straight ahead, face still as blank as it was before. She winced and pulled back, hands on his shoulders. "Ed? Are you okay? Are you awake?"

In a moment's notice she was underwater and so was he, some form of a long, sticky tentacle wrapping itself around her and Ed's bodies. She wrapped her arms around his chest and under his arms and kicked viciously at the appendages. Her breath was running out quickly, and by the way Ed was limp in her arms, she was assuming that he was already out of breath.

She closed her eyes and concentrated.

Enough was enough.

Isabel used her aura to form a muscle arm. She reached around herself and Ed and grabbed each tentacle to sweep them all up into one hand.

Then she clenched down on them and squeezed the life out of each arm, feeling as each one went lifeless in her hand.

Very vaguely, she heard a screech from somewhere deeper in the water, but she was too busy swimming back to the surface to get a good look at whatever it was.

As soon as they were on surface, Isabel punched down hard on Ed's stomach.

He immediately sat up and spat out water, but fell flat back onto the floor seconds afterward.

She was coughing up water, herself, even as she weakly took the walkie talkie from the drenched pockets of her jacket. "We need help on West! I repeat we need help on West!"

She tried to fight back a particularly harsh cough, but failed even as she continued to talk over the walkie talkie. "Ed is out of action! I saved him but I-!" She looked back at Ed and coughed again. He seemed okay, just definitely not conscious. "I saw it! I saw the spirit! At least part of it… I don't wanna move on my own with Ed out like this. Get over here!"

\- Morning -

Max opened his eyes to see very blue ones staring back at him, accompanied by a rather orange puff of hair. He could only think of one person-

"Sparky?"

Isaac smiled warmly from his place above him on the bed. He was sitting on his side of the bed, but he was bent so that he was looking down at Max. He must have gotten up a while ago because the side Max wasn't sleeping on was perfectly folded. "It's about time you woke up."

Max groaned but yawned and stretched his arms to either side of his body before he sat up. It felt too early to be awake. In fact, he hardly felt like he'd gotten any sleep at all. "What time is it?"

Time seemed to become irrelevant, as it stopped when one of Isaac's arms rested beside his head. It was perfect, because if time didn't stop then Max was sure his heart had. He studied the arm quizzically before looking back at Isaac. Max was startled to find Isaac's eyes bearing directly into his, just as they had yesterday except with more direction in them. He gulped.

"I think it's time we stopped running around, Max."

"W-why? I like running. Running is nice."

Isaac chuckled and he could see a sparkle of mischief somewhere in his blue pools. That didn't make his heart slow down at all. In fact, he felt his cheeks heat up even quicker than they had been around him lately. "Running is definitely nice, but only because you know you'll eventually catch what you're running after." Isaac's other hand laid against Max's cheek, much to the batter's shock. "How long do you want to keep running, Max?" Isaac inched closer. "How long do I have to wait before I catch you?"

"I-Isaac buddy I'm getting a really weird vibe right now!"

"You say that like you are completely new to this." Isaac was getting close enough that Max could look anywhere and still see his friend's face, eyes filled with some form of flirty look to them he'd never seen in him before. "Isaac?" His voice came out strained and just a tad… shy.

"Just give it a go, Max." Isaac closed his eyes and leaned in.

Although his heart was beating at abnormal speeds, Max found himself closing his eyes and leaning in too. One of Max's hands supporting him reached somewhere to the side to find Isaac's hand.

"MAX WAKE UP!"

Max gasped as Isabel yanked his head out of his bowl of cereal by his hair. They were sitting in the middle of the kitchen. Spender was behind the counter making coffee. Ed sat on his left, laughing, and Isabel on his right. Isaac sat across from him, shooting him concerned looks as he halted in eating to make sure his friend was okay. Max groaned as loud as he could and reached blindly in front of him on the table in search of his cap. When he found it flipped onto its back in front of his bowl, he placed it on his head where it should have been.

"Okay, okay I'm up."

It was only a dream… it didn't mean anything. He had dreams about being the king of the school, too. It wasn't like he wanted to be the king of anything, so this dream didn't mean anything either.

Once they'd gotten the call from Isabel over the walkie talkie, his conversation with Isaac had been brought to an abrupt halt. Max didn't think he'd ever been more thankful to help Isabel lug an unconscious Ed (who was talking in his sleep about Cheetos or something) back home. When they'd gotten to bed, Isaac hadn't said a word to him about their interrupted conversation. In fact, Isaac had been out before Max even left the bathroom.

Needless to say, Max hadn't slept well at all. He'd been far too concerned about Isaac's twisting and turning and cuddling (he'd grabbed Max's arm in his sleep and Max couldn't bring himself to pull it away) to get any rest.

"I hear you. I didn't exactly sleep either." Isabel grumbled. She'd stayed up all night waiting for Ed to wake up. Eventually she'd fallen asleep for all of two hours before she felt a hand patting her on the head. When she opened her eyes, Ed had been staring back at her and smiling like nothing had happened. He'd even made a joke about drowning that Isabel had been way too tired to hear before she'd jumped and hugged him for dear life.

From where he sat at the table, Ed shot her an apologetic look to which she only smiled and shook her head. "You are feeling better, Ed?" Spender took the seat next to Isaac, sipping on his mug. Ed nodded enthusiastically. "Good. Then we should talk about what happened. Did anything seem off to you before you were pulled under the spirit's influence?"

Ed looked up at the ceiling frowning, deep in thought. "Nah, not that I can remember. I just remember asking Izzy a question and then… nothing."

"Do you remember what the siren sounded like?" Isaac set down his spoon, finished with his breakfast and ready to talk.

Ed shrugged. "Not really."

"I do." Isabel raised her hand. When all eyes were on her, she concentrated on her memory. "The earbuds kept me safe, but I still kind of heard the song. It's like some type of sad tune from a long, long time ago- like a bard's song or something."

"Did you feel anything?" Spender's eyes narrowed behind his glasses. Isabel could tell he was feeling on-edge after nearly losing one of his students. He must have been feeling pretty motivated to take this spirit down.

"I was getting a bit of a headache, but besides that no."

The teacher nodded and rubbed his head, seemingly pacifying a growing migraine.

"So what do we do?" Max asked as he took a piece of toast from the table. He took a bite of it and realized he really didn't want it. His stomach was still in knots. "There's not a lot we can do during the day besides keep an eye out for suspicious spirits."

"So…?" Isabel raised an eyebrow.

Spender sighed. "Go have fun. We'll scout the beach again tonight."

There was a quick celebration as the kids cleaned up their mess in record time, racing to get out the front door.

"Max?"

As he took one step out the threshold, he heard Spender call his name and he stopped. When the others noticed he wasn't following, they turned to look at him with curious faces. Max shrugged at them to hold on a second and he retreated into the house.

"Close the door."

Max cocked an eyebrow, but did as told and shut the front door.

"S'there something wrong or…?"

"I need to talk to you about Isaac."

Max blanched and threw his back against the front door, already feeling his heart speed up. "Wh-what about Isaac? I don't know why you'd be asking me!"

Spender rested his chin upon his folded hands suspiciously. "You have been getting very close to him."

"I don't think I am- like, not noticeably close. Am I? I don't think so. It's not like I'm constantly thinking about him or anything-!"

"You are much closer to Isaac than Isabel or Ed. You have been since you moved to Mayview."

Max sucked in his cheeks and looked anywhere but his teacher. Why was he asking about this? How did Spender know how he'd been feeling around Isaac? How-?!

"Could you tell me something?"

"Yes? No? Maybe so?"

The teacher crossed his arms and leaned forward into the table. "You remember the fight with Conall, yes?"

Max felt his heart slow down, but his stomach dropped. "I uh, yeah?"

"Then you remember what Isaac said when he took Conall's life?"

"Um, vaguely-!"

"Would you happen to know what he meant by a 'secret' friend?"

Max's eyes widened. "I… what?"

"Isaac said something about having a friend he didn't have to keep secret. You wouldn't happen to know what he meant by that, would you?"

Max felt everything in him flop over like a dead fish.

'I thought that there was a person I could finally talk to- somebody I didn't have to keep a secret!'

Isaac's speech came running back and anxiety welled up under his skin.

He should have known that would bite them in the butt. "Uh, no. No I wouldn't know what he meant by that. He's um… still getting used to really talking to us." He looked thoroughly unconvinced and Max was finally feeling the sweat on his head roll down his face. It reached his chin and dropped to his shoulder.

Max was having a hard time meeting the man's eyes, but he stood his ground anyway. Looking in another direction would be far too suspicious.

Suddenly, Spender nodded. "I thought that may be the case. You're free to go." Max turned around and exhaled silently in relief, opening the door and bolting out as fast as he could.

When the door was closed, the teacher sighed and massaged his head in preparation for his oncoming headache.

"What was that about?" Isaac asked. Isabel and Ed were looking at each-other, communicating telepathically what they all knew. They'd been concerned.

Max rubbed the back of his neck. "It's uh… it was nothing. Just stuff about the corner store."

Isaac glared at him, clearly not convinced, but Max only shrugged. There was nothing else he could say.

"So what do you guys wanna do first? Waterskiing or hang-gliding?" Isabel was practically jumping up and down. She'd been so sure that Spender wasn't going to let them enjoy any time here, but he'd surprised her and now her mind was bursting with possibilities!

Isaac flinched and Max's eyes widened. "A-Actually, Isabel… I think I'm going to do something a little, um, calmer."

Max nodded in agreement. "While all of those things sound awesome, it's probably not a good idea I do any of them without sleep." In all truth, he definitely wanted to do all of that- just not around Isabel. Something told him he wouldn't come back alive; probably her recent meltdowns.

Isabel frowned and shook her head. "You party poopers." She turned around to look at Ed. "I guess it's just you and me, huh?"

Ed winced and she felt her jaw drop. "What's that look for?! You've always wanted to go waterskiing!"

He shrugged and stuck his hands in his pockets, a big smile on his face. "Actually, Cindy is coming down to visit today!"

"What?!" Isabel's hands clenched at her sides, but she didn't let Ed see them. Max and Isaac did and they bolted off somewhere they couldn't be subject to collateral damage. "I thought you said she was coming this weekend?!"

"Her parents said that since she has good grades, she could skip school for a day! Isn't that so cool of them?!" Ed was excited, waving his arms around animatedly. Isabel nearly felt bad for being angry at him.

Nearly.

"So I'm on my own, then?"

"Of course not! I'd love for Cindy to meet you!"

"And I'd love to meet her, too." Ed and Isabel turned around to see Cindy standing there, hands behind her back. She was already in her bikini, decorated with hearts that mirrored the ones Isabel could see in Ed's eyes. "Cindy, you're here early!"

The girl giggled and ran forward, wrapping her arms around Ed in a warm hug. "I just couldn't wait to see you, Eddy!"

"Eddy?" Isabel cringed at the name. "Ed hates being called-!"

"Not anymore I don't!" Ed snickered as he twirled Cindy around a few times, much to Cindy's joy and Isabel's irritation. The spectral put her hands on her hips and leaned forward as soon as Ed set his girlfriend down. "So you're the Cindy I've heard so much about?"

Cindy nodded enthusiastically. "That I am! And you would be the wonderful Isabel Guerra, right?" Isabel could only describe what she felt as shocked when Cindy reached forward and wrapped her hands around Isabel's. "It's so nice to meet you! Ed just adores you! You're such a great sister!"

Ed laughed and crossed his arms. "She knows!"

Isabel chuckled sarcastically. "Yeah… thanks."


	5. Chapter 5

\- Beach Square -

"This is a really huge beach to have a town square."

"It's not really a town square, Max. It's just called the Beach Square because it has four food stands that are facing each-other in a square."

Max stuck his hands in his pockets and looked around. People were laughing and smiling happily- like there hadn't been several murders on this exact beach within the last two weeks. It was reinforcing the idea that Mayview was a really weird place.

"Hey, Max!"

Isaac caught his attention by waving his hand in front of his face. Once the medium knew he had his friend's attention, he pointed to a fire walk. "Do you wanna do that? I hear it's supposed to be really relaxing!"

"Relaxing doesn't sound like the word I'd use for something like that…" Max scowled cynically at the idea, but that exterior dropped as soon as Isaac grabbed his hand and began pulling him forward. Max nearly yelled at Isaac for sparking him with electricity before he realized the medium hadn't conjured any.

\- Diner -

"We just had breakfast!" Isabel hissed and elbowed Ed. He grinned at her from his seat to her left and pointed his thumb in Cindy's direction. The girl was at the salad bar, happily grabbing what she wanted. "Yeah, but Cindy's hungry! Besides, you know I always have room to eat!"

As Cindy returned to her table, she set a burger that reached Ed's height in front of him. "Eat up, sweetie! We have a long day ahead of us!" Where her lips touched his cheek, his skin ignited. Isabel groaned under her breath and shifted so that her stool at the counter was a little further from the two. Ed dug into his burger at alarming speeds as Cindy ate like a lady, legs crossed and pinkie out when she drank. Isabel rolled her eyes and looked out the window.

"Yeah… definitely a long day."

\- The Fire Walk -

Max waited anxiously to the side and under a long line of fiery hot stones and pebbles that was set up on a small hill. Isaac stood at one end with an impish smile on his lips. It made Max exceedingly nervy and he debated dragging Isaac away from the fire before he hurt himself.

Granted, there was no way he was going to act on his fears because Isaac just looked so spirited and ready to walk the flames. Determination was attractive on Isaac, and Max had to convince himself it was the warmness of the flames he was feeling on his cheeks.

Isaac glimpsed in Max's direction to meet frightened eyes. He raised a mocking eyebrow.

Max only shook his head and gave him a reassuring smile. He might have been nervous, but if Isaac was confident, then…

Honestly, he'd expected Isaac to take one step, scream like a little girl, and run away from the fire walk flailing; but much to Max's surprise, Isaac was able to get a little more than halfway through before he couldn't take another step.

Looking down at the burning floor he stood upon, the heat was finally getting to him. Isaac was sweating like it was a sauna (which wasn't too surprising considering he was standing on fire and they were on the beach in the sun). The soles of his feet felt like they were splintering and he couldn't take it anymore.

Isaac moved to the side in a hurry to get away from the hot burning death below him.

Unfortunately for Isaac, he was Isaac, so nothing could ever go so smoothly.

He tripped and started falling to the ground: Max was on him in no time, parkouring over picnic tables and dodging the flaming rocks his friend had knocked down.

He got there just in the nick of time and caught Isaac in a bear hug, the two of them toppling over and rolling down several flights of stairs that lead to the beach. When they finally stopped rolling, they both groaned in agony, refusing to move for fear of what they may feel if they did.

"That's it. You're never doing that again. Like, ever."

"I'm not going to fight you on that one."

Max slowly opened his eyes and squinted, preparing to get a strong beam of sunlight in his face. What he actually saw was even worse.

Isaac's face was directly above him, covered in dirt and coal and grime. He was close enough that Max could feel his breath on his face. The only distance between them was the support Isaac received from his forearms, which rested neatly on either side of Max's head. Suddenly, Max felt like he'd been the one on the fire walk. Isaac's neutral expression faded into that of concern, his eyebrows furrowing and his lips tightening.

His lips…

Max bit his own in contemplation.

He wondered where his baseball cap was…

"Hey! Are you kids alright?" From the top of the stairs they'd fallen down, an adult in a BBQ apron called to them. Surprised, they pulled away from each-other (though not entirely, Max noted with some happiness) to let him know they were okay. Once the adult was convinced they weren't injured, things got silent again.

Then Isaac took a deep breath.

"Hey, Max? You never did answer me last night."

Max sucked in. He had a feeling that was coming.

"Answer what?"

"You're avoiding me. Why?"

"N-No I'm not!" His self-esteem may have been diminishing second-by-second, but his superficial wall of pride still stood tall enough for Max to try to keep up an act.

Isaac pulled even further away, much to Max's relief and disappointment, to sit back and cross his arms. Max took that as an opportunity to sit up. "Yes you are! Every time I take one step toward you, you take three steps back!"

Max scowled. That was a bit of an exaggeration. "Isaac you're being overdramatic."

If Isaac's face wasn't red from the fire walk, his face was certainly blazing with fury now. "This has been going on since Monday! What is your problem?!"

'Think fast, Max!' There had to be a way to redirect the conversation to something that wouldn't potentially end their friendship. How could he possibly (smoothly) work away from the uncomfortable topic at hand? Then it hit him.

Max leaned forward so he was in Isaac's face. Never mind the proximity; he was much more concerned with other things besides his racing heartbeat.

With a finger poking Isaac's chest, he spoke. "You are the one with a problem- not me."

"What?"

"Mister Spender caught on to what you said."

"What?!" Isaac's eyes widened. "What did I say?!"

Max looked around and found his cap on the staircase. Without looking at Isaac, he walked to go pick it up. "Mister Spender asked me about that 'secret friend' you mentioned back in Man's Rise Cave. I told him I didn't know anything, but I'm not sure he's really convinced."

"What?!" Isaac was on his feet immediately, hands waving frantically in the air around him. "Oh my god! He can't find out about Doorman! I promised!"

Max walked to the top of the first flight and picked up his abandoned hat, placing it back on his head. "Well why did you say that, anyway?"

"I don't know! I thought I'd kinda sorta lost everything anyways! I figured 'why not'?!"

Isaac ran his hands through his hair and screamed in aggravation. "Of course he heard me! He had to hear me! Why would I assume he didn't?! If not him, then Doctor Zarei!"

Upon seeing his friend's panic attack, guilt tore through Max. He shouldn't have told Isaac: he should have known it would only worry him. Of course there was potential for the situation to become a problem, but it really hadn't reached that point yet. He should have waited.

Still, maybe it was better Isaac knew?

"Relax, man. We'll fix this. I don't know how, but we will."

"Is this…?" Isaac paused and ran his hands through his hair, turning so that Max was facing his back. "Is this why you've been avoiding me- so you don't look suspicious?"

Max saw the opportunity ready for the taking, but he shook his head. He wouldn't take the bait. He'd lied enough to know that every time he ever had, he'd backed himself into a corner. He wouldn't do that with Isaac.

"I haven't been avoiding you."

Isaac exhaled disbelievingly, but didn't argue.

"Right…"

Isaac twisted around and watched Max with cautious eyes. "I have to really not think about this right now, so what do you want to do next?"

A small smile found its way to the batter and he tilted his cap down.

\- South Coast -

Spender walked along the side of the beach. It was quiet here during the day. The area was far too shaded for anybody to enjoy the sun. Only a few couples lurked about, laughing and kissing in the privacy of the shadows. It was funny; he always thought shadows made people lonely. Shadows hid things- secrets. Secrets were dangerous.

Spender sighed.

That was exactly why he was so worried about Isaac. Who could this mysterious friend be? Why had Isaac not come clean about this friend yet? He'd assumed that Isaac felt safe enough to share what he couldn't before. It might have been a matter of time...

Something twitched behind him.

Spender stood alert, but didn't respond.

Then it happened again, and he twisted around, fingers already clutching his glasses. "Who is there?!" There was a wet dragging sound at his feet. When he looked down, he noticed a blue tentacle just between his legs pull away. The rest of it ran all the way to the water and disappeared under the waves. Spender frowned. "Are you the spirit, or the minion?"

He reached down and yanked roughly on the tentacle. Like a startled deer, it slithered off into the water at lightning speeds. Spender watched after it for a few moments, shocked.

He'd have to leave the children out of this one.

\- The Beach House -

"So you're staying here a few nights, too?" Ed was bouncing up and down with a grin a mile wide. Cindy giggled and nodded. "We're not staying in a beach house, but we have our own little vacation home down here. It's tiny, but it's close enough to the beach that we don't care."

Isabel rolled her eyes and turned her back on the two, fingers drumming over the handle of their door.

"That's great! So I'll see you again tomorrow?"

"Of course, Eddy!" She leaned forward to peck his cheek, only to meet an empty space where Ed once stood. She turned her head to see Isabel dragging Ed into the house by his collar. The female spectral waved goodbye with as little sarcasm as she could (which wasn't saying a lot).

Isabel shut the door loudly and Ed was already on his cell, texting Cindy.

She frowned and placed her hands on her hips, waiting for him to look at her.

When he didn't, she sighed and slumped back to her room. "Night, Ed."

All she got back was a hum.

As soon as she was in their room, she launched herself onto the bed so hard it bounced beneath her. Isabel dug her head under her pillow and screamed.


	6. Chapter 6

When Ed tiptoed into the bedroom, it was around 11:00 PM. He hadn’t meant to stay awake texting Cindy so long- it just happened. She’d said one thing that made him laugh. He said another and made her laugh and before he knew it three hours had passed. He glanced at the bed to make sure he hadn’t woken Isabel.

“Well you’ve been up late.”

He jumped at the voice that came from the other side of the room, yelping and holding the door handle as tightly as he could without ripping it off the actual door. Isabel stood leaning against the sliding glass door that led to a porch, arms crossed, looking like she could murder somebody.

Ed wouldn’t have been surprised if she did.

“Izzy, what are you still doing up?”

“I should be asking you that! Do you know how late it is?! We have to scout in an hour!”

Ed shrugged. “I, well, sorry!” He looked like a kicked puppy. She supposed she couldn’t blame him. They’d never had a real fight before, so of course he was shocked.

Isabel sighed and uncrossed her arms, casting her eyes away from Ed. She should have been ashamed of herself, yelling at Ed like that. He really liked Cindy so naturally he would text her a lot, wouldn’t he? “It was Cindy, right?”  
“Yeah, it was. We’re talking about our plans to meet her parents-!”

“Meet her what?!”

Ed jumped again. He wasn’t used to Isabel screaming at him like that. In all his years by her side, he could count on one hand the number of times Isabel had yelled at him. It was usually just backlash for something her grandfather said. Ed straightened his back and took it like he usually did when she got that way. She was mad at something else- not him. He had to keep that in mind. “Her parents, Isabel. She wants me to um, meet her folks.”

“You guys have been dating a little less than a week!”

Ed blushed and rubbed the back of his neck, smiling sheepishly. “Yeah… we really like each-other.”

They really liked each-other, huh? Enough that he’d stop talking to her; stop telling her everything? He liked Cindy enough that he’d throw away everything they’d built together? He’d just go and meet Cindy’s parents because she asked? Isabel grimaced and held out her hand. “Would you mind if I saw your cellphone really quick?”

 

Max had spent all night avoiding physical contact with Isaac. Every single time they’d so much as brush against each-other, Max’s senses would get thrown on a rollercoaster ride of “I liked that” and “No I didn’t”. By the end of the night, he was walking at least a yard away from Isaac, whose hands were in his pockets before he opened the front door and stepped inside. Isaac held a thin frown. He could tell- Max was still avoiding him. He thought they’d solved whatever this was by trying those exotic foods and doing that weird Mayview Beach Dance by the fire together (he’d felt his entire body heat up and he was sure it wasn’t just the campfire. Max was warm, too). He guessed he was wrong.

Still, asking Max about it wasn’t going to get them anywhere. He’d tried to broach the subject multiple times during the night, but each time Max would find some way to change the subject.

“Max, Isaac! I need to speak to you!” Just as Max’s foot crossed the threshold in his journey to the living room, Mister Spender came running to them. The closer he got the worse and worse he looked. He was completely soaked, a gash in one eyebrow. Isaac raised an eyebrow in concern. “Are those… tentacle marks?” They were. They lined his body up and down, all over his face and arms and legs.

Spender reached the front door and bent over, breathing heavily. He’d run so fast he’d hardly had the time to think about what he was going to say. Max motioned to get Spender some water.

Isaac understood what he was doing and rushed into the kitchen, grabbing a tall glass and filling it halfway with ice before filling it up to the rim with water. Max helped Spender into the house, throwing him against the couch as gently as he could. The teacher groaned and held onto his sides. “Are you alright?”

“I’m pretty sure I have a few broken bones, but besides that I should be swell.” Max wasn’t convinced. Something else was bothering their designated adult. Once Isaac rushed back to their teacher, he held the water out.  
Spender looked at it in horror before slapping it away. Isaac and Max bulked as the glass fell to the tile floor and shattered, water and ice spilling everywhere.

“Thank you, boys, but I think I’ve had enough of water for a very long time.” The teacher’s forearm came up to rest across his eyes, wiping the blood from the gash in his eyes across his forehead.

Isaac shot Spender a ‘dirty’ look (it was more comical than anything) before bending down to pick up the shattered glass.

“What happened?” Max finally asked, going to stuff his hands in the pockets of his hoodie before realizing he was only in his bathing suit. Spender frowned and shook his head. “I solved the case.”

“What do you mean?” Isaac wiped his hands clean of any shards there may have been, dumping the cup into the trash can as he went to grab a towel for the mess of water. “I found the source of the problem.” Spender’s face fell to the floor. “It’s no spirit.”

“Not a spirit? As in-?”

“It’s a ghost- and a friend of somebody you may recognize.” Isaac and Max exchanged looks. Spender sighed. “I struggled with one of her tentacles for a while, but I managed to follow it to an underwater cave. I confronted her and she told me her name is Velda- of course that took me about an hour of fighting with her. She’s one of the agents that died in Man’s Rise Cave- and a ‘friend’, I use that term loosely, of Conall’s. How she got here, I have no idea.”

Their ears perked up at the mention of Conall, Isaac’s eyes narrowing dangerously. He certainly still held a grudge against the ghost. Already, there was electricity sparking around his fists. “What does she want?”

“The same thing Conall wanted, I’m assuming.”

“Revenge?”

When the teacher nodded, Max tilted his cap up and looked around for his bat. “So we should probably go out scouting now?”

“No.”

The two looked at Spender confused.

“This is too dangerous. I nearly lost all of you during that battle. Zarei isn’t here to back us up this time.”

“So what are we going to do?”

“You children are going to stay here. I’m going to take her down myself.”

Spender stood, albeit shakily, and walked over to the door. He stopped and turned on his heel. “You are not to leave the house under any circumstances. You hear me?”

Although they both nodded, their fingers were crossed behind their backs.

 

“Isabel!” Ed’s jaw dropped as she tossed his phone to the other side of the room, somewhere off to his left. The cell hit the wall with a snap and fell to the floor. Ed winced at the cracking sound. He was sure he’d heard glass break. “Why did you do that?!”

“Why do you like her so much?!”

There was a struggle behind her words- like she was forcing herself to let them out. Ed forgot about his phone and turned to look at her. Isabel stood with her hands in fists at her sides, breathing in and out slowly to calm herself down. Ed could tell it wasn’t working. He took a very deep breath and exhaled. If she couldn’t be calm, he had to. “I don’t know, Izzy. She’s just… really pretty and she likes me and she’s funny-!”

“Oh, what?!” Isabel’s arms were crossed again as she leaned forward and stomped her foot. “I’m not funny?!”

Ed’s eyebrows creased in confusion. “What? Izzy I never said that!”

“You didn’t need to!”

Ed echoed Isabel’s attitude by crossing his own arms, lips thinning into a straight line to hide how wounded he was feeling. “I’m getting the feeling you don’t like me being with Cindy.”

“That’s because I don’t like you with Cindy! I hate her!”

That hurt.

Ed’s hands clenched into fists, too. “She makes me happy! Why do you hate her!?” He couldn’t understand it- any of it! Cindy was a great girl! She was everything he’d ever wanted and ever dreamed of. How could Isabel despise Cindy when she was so blissful?

“Why do you like her?!”

“I just do, Izzy! What is your problem?!”

Isabel paused, eyes widening. What was her problem? Ed was in a good place with Cindy, right? She should have been happy for him.

So why did she feel so pathetic?

If she kept talking to him that way, she could lose him. No more taking spirits down together left and right. No more sparing on Wednesday nights when they were done with their homework and didn’t feel like going anywhere. No more stupid horror movies to laugh at together. No more “Izzy I’m freaking out” or “Bet you I can outrun you home”. Ed could turn his back on her and that would be the end of it. Her crossed arms came around so that she was holding herself, instead. What was the point in being nice? He’d ignored her all week, anyway. Ed was going to be happy with Cindy: he was going to spend every moment he wanted to spend on Cindy- with Cindy. It was time she accepted it.

Ed was leaving her behind.

Worrying her bottom lip, Isabel glanced away from him and to the ground. “It’s…” Tears were forming in her eyes, but she was a strong girl and she would not cry. She would not cry. “Never mind, Ed. I’m going for a walk!”

Things moved too fast, and Ed just barely felt her hair graze his face on her way out the door of the bedroom. He turned on his heel to chase after her. “Hey, Izzy wait!”

Isaac and Max gasped as Isabel bolted past them, swinging the front door open so hard it hit the wall. The two flinched. Isaac extended a hand toward her. “Isabel? Hey, Mister Spender said-!”

She didn’t hear them. She was out the door as fast as her feet could carry her, off to somewhere more calming. Beach Square? Sure, why not? She just needed a place to be alone and hit things.

“Isabel!” Ed came around the corner of the hallway, stopping at the front door with one hand held out in her direction and the other on the doorframe. Isabel didn’t respond- and if she did, her response was to run faster. Before he knew it, Isabel disappeared down the hill. Ed groaned and threw his head back to yell at the ceiling. “Would you just talk to me?!”

Ed took a step forward to run after her, but was jerked back by a hand on his shoulder. When he was forced around, he saw it was Max with an unusual frown on his face. “Call her instead. Spender said not to leave the house.”

“What? Why?!”

“He found the suspect.” Isaac sighed. “She’s a ghost and a friend of Conall’s.”

“Conall? As in…?”

“Yeah. Mister ‘Use the middle schooler with anger problems to fulfill my vengeance’.”

Isaac elbowed Max, but eyed Ed. “The point is, Spender told us to stay in. He said he’ll take care of it.”

Ed cocked an eyebrow. “And you guys were really going to listen to him?”

“Absolutely not but we figured we’d tell you to call her back so we can head out as a team.”

Ed frowned and looked back out to the hill Isabel vanished behind. Max followed his line of sight. “Dude, what happened anyway?”

Ed frowned and didn’t answer. He’d never seen Isabel act like that- ever. For her to be so angry and so cryptic was something not only strange, but all-around out of character. What did she expect him to do- just let this entire thing blow over? Let her stay mad at him? Well, those were things that weren’t in his character to do, and if she wasn’t going to act herself then one of them had to.

“I don’t know, but I’m gonna find out!”

Max made a move to catch Ed before he ran off after their friend, but the blonde was too quick. He rushed off, leaving Max and Isaac behind.

The two stared blankly at the open door of their rental home, blinking every so often as the wheels turned.

“So what do we do now?” Isaac shrugged and started on his way out the front door, too. Max tugged on the collar of his shirt and pulled him back into the house. “Ed’s probably gonna bring her back here, Isaac! We should wait!”

“Do you think Mister Spender has time for us to wait?” Isaac set a hand on Max’s a roughly removed it. Much to Max’s concern, he didn’t let go. The touch sent chills that Max found nauseating (and not in the good way) down his spine. “You know how he is. He thinks he can take her on all by himself, but it took all of us to take Conall down. How easy could this ghost possibly be?!” Isaac growled under his breath and jabbed him in the chest once. Max felt his stomach drop, and for some reason he felt like curling up into a ball and dying. Isaac was angry at him. Of course, this wasn’t the first time he’d made Isaac mad. He always made Isaac mad. So why was this feeling so much stronger? Why did he almost feel embarrassed?  
Max took a few steps back, which didn’t go unnoticed by the medium in front of him. Max glared at him. Isaac’s scowl deepened and he made an aggravated noise. “There you go again! You’re putting distance between us! Why?!”  
Max tilted his cap over his face to hide his blush, the memory of his dreams flashing back to haunt him: Isaac’s warmth and Isaac’s arms and Isaac’s voice.

All of those things got his heart racing. All of those things made him feel like he could hardly stand.

“I’m not.” His voice was probably a little coarser than he meant it to be. He could see Isaac flinch in the corner of his eye. The hand that held his tore away.

“Max shut up!”

The batter squeaked and backed into the kitchen counter as Isaac quickly came up on him, invading his personal space. “Just tell me the truth, Max! What is going on with you? Did I do something wrong?!”

“No, you didn’t-!”

“Then what happened? Why are you avoiding me?” Isaac had him cornered now, hands reaching up and holding Max’s shoulders as they stood against the counter. There was close to no distance between them and Max was really feeling it. “S-Stormy-!”  
They were on eye level, Isaac’s face only an inch from his. He was so close: Max could smell the strawberry drinks they’d tried earlier on his breath- he could feel Isaac breathing, because their chests pressed together, and he felt the heat on his face from Isaac’s breath. He took a second to really admire Isaac. He hardly ever saw Isaac outside, yet the medium still somehow managed to keep a tan. Be that as it may, that wasn’t where Max’s eyes traveled. Isaac’s lips were so pink and smooth Max could only imagine what they would feel like against his own. What would he give to try it just once…

Finally, Max understood what was happening.

Those lips, Isaac’s eyes, Isaac’s voice… everything about him was driving Max haywire. If only he could reach up and lay on a hand on Isaac’s cheek, maybe then he’d stop thinking about how soft Isaac’s skin must feel. Maybe if he wrapped his arms around Isaac’s neck, the medium would catch on to what Max was only now coming to terms with?

He wanted to kiss Isaac.

He wanted to pull him closer and get just one taste- one chance to feel what it was like to be with him.

Isaac exhaled in an attempt to calm down, trying desperately to keep his emotions under control. Yes, he was friends with Isabel and Ed, but Max was his best friend. They never said it, but Isaac knew it. Max joked with him more than anybody else and wrapped an arm around his shoulder and whispered to him. Max was closer to Isaac and Isaac was closer to Max and it was so obvious to everyone- even them. For his best friend to start hiding from him and stop really talking to him, it was a low blow that hit with such an impact Isaac didn’t know whether to scream or suffer silently.

He’d tried to be quiet and let it pass, but that wasn’t him. Isaac wanted to fix it- right then, right there.

“What do you want me to do, Max?”

Max stared back at him from the shadow of his baseball cap. He opened his mouth and shut it repeatedly, looking for something to say. When he finally said something, his voice was breathless and deprived and would have been lost to anybody who wasn’t as close as Isaac was.

“Take me.”

It took a few seconds for what Max had said to click in either one of their heads. Isaac raised an eyebrow in confusion, anger dropping like an anchor. Max coughed awkwardly into his hand and looked anywhere but his friend. When he spoke again, his voice was the way it usually was- sarcastic and brooding. “Take me with you, I meant. If you really think I’m avoiding you, then me following you into what could literally be our graves should be proof enough I’m not!”

Isaac took a step away. “I guess you have a point…”

“See?”

“But I’m still not convinced!” Max recoiled at the finger that was suddenly in his face, but quickly regained composure, holding his hands up in defense. “That should change soon enough. Let’s go find Spender and stop this thing once and for all, okay?”


	7. Chapter 7

“I know you’re down here. It was all of- what- eighty minutes ago?” Spender tore the scuba suit off and threw it on the ground, hands balled at his sides. “I have a bone to pick with you, Velda. You’ve taken lives from the people of Mayview, leaving families at home to wonder what could have happened! There’s been an influx of lost, scared souls because of you!”

The underwater cave was dark; dark enough he could hardly see where he was going. Each step he took was carefully planned. Spender ran his hands along the wall, trying desperately to find a torch or a flashlight or anything. When his searching hand found nothing, he gave up and pulled away from the wall to walk freely. He’d just have to manipulate the darkness. “I’m going to bring them the peace they deserve.”

“Oh, you mean the peace I was denied?”

The sound of a timeworn, detestable voice resounded through the cave. “Need I remind you why your life ended the way it did?”

“I was a traitor, yada yada yada. Whatever. That’s no excuse to take my life.”

“Just be glad it was painless. BL could have sent other spectrals after you. They wouldn’t have had so much mercy.” I wouldn’t have… Spender thought. Heaven knows he wouldn’t have any mercy now.  
“So she let us kill ourselves? Kill each-other? All in the name of the organization’s pride? You’re fools! Each and every last one of you.” There was a pause, and when the voice spoke again, it almost seemed melancholy. “I was a fool once, too.”

“And you still are.”

Spender’s quip was acknowledged with a contemplative hum. “What makes you say that?”

“Conall is dead.”

There was silence; deep, unnatural silence. Spender hardly heard the water falling into puddles, anymore. He pushed away from the wall so that he could get a clearer view. Although there was some moonlight casting in, it was still much too dim to see anything. His feet came to a stop in the middle of the room, shuffling and kicking in expectation of the conflict. “Did you hear me?”

“I could care less. Conall was a fool. He let his emotions best him. He formed attachments too easily to be as strong as he looked.”

“I understand that connection was the source of his abilities?”

“Oh, it was. He could never seem to pull away, though. Everything and everyone he manipulated kept a small part of him. That was his downfall, wasn’t it?”

Spender frowned. “I wouldn’t say that.”

“Tell me, then… Richard Spender?”

Suddenly there was something slithering around his feet. Tentacles…

Spender didn’t make a move. She was expecting him to and he wasn’t about to give her the satisfaction. “How did dear, imprudent Conall die?”

“He manipulated the wrong person.”

The tentacles circling at his shoes slapped the ground irately. Spender smirked. “It seems he didn’t regret manipulating you at all.”

The walls shook at the scream that resounded. “He did not manipulate me! I willingly followed his plans!”

“You mean to tell me,” Spender said. “That he didn’t do anything special to sway you?”

“What are you getting at?!”

He tilted his head, shrugging as if the answer was obvious. “You, apparently- much like he did.”

Spender stopped a tentacle from smacking him across the room, putting up a barrier just in time to break its momentum. With a cry, she tore the limb away and swung at him from another side. He was one step ahead of her, already moving out of the way. As the tentacle came in contact with where he once stood, Spender grabbed onto it and yanked it towards him. The pull forced her into the dim light of the moon, and that was the first time he made eye-contact with Velda.  
The tentacles were not her legs, but appendages that stuck out of her sides. Her legs were gone, just like a ghost’s should be. She was seven-foot tall with pasty white eyes- but he knew she wasn’t blind. She could see her surroundings perfectly well. “You couldn’t see it, could you? Not until the end? He used you.”

“I knew what he was doing! I was in control the entire time!”

“Maybe you had some semblance of control at the beginning, but if you were smart you would have seen what was happening. If you were really in control, you wouldn’t have been in that cave at all that night.”  
Velda swung at him again.

\-- Beach Square --

Isabel wiped furiously at her eyes.

She wasn’t crying. She wasn’t crying. Crying made her weak. Crying exposed her. She didn’t even cry when Eightfold died- how could she cry now?

Well, that was the thing: Ed wasn’t Eightfold. Ed was Ed and he was her best friend and the only person in the world she could talk to about anything, but all of that was out the window. She’d always known there would be a day she and Ed weren’t as close. She just didn’t know the day would be at the hands of a girl who was twenty times more important to Ed than she was.

Isabel sniffed and wrapped her arms around herself.

She didn’t even know how she could go about facing Ed after her freak-out. He’d seen her throw a few tantrums before, but nothing like she’d done back there- not at him; never at him. But this time it was at him and there was no taking anything she said back. It’d be lying. She hated Cindy. She hated them together. Cindy was a witch who was stealing Ed from her.

Isabel knew he still cared about her, but it was always the way he was. The dog starts barking and Ed takes off running. This time Isabel was the dog.

\-- Underwater Base --

Spender braced for impact as his body hit the ground. Cold and grungy water clung to his back, soaking his entire body. He groaned, but knew it couldn’t be helped. There were puddles of water all around the cave. It would have been a miracle if he hadn’t landed in a wet patch. Quickly, he was on his feet again. His timing was impeccable- just as he thought it would be- because a tentacle came flying at his face. He grabbed the tip of the tentacle and spun in a circle. Velda screamed and pulled on her own tentacle to get closer to him, but he shook his head with an insufferable grin on his lips and tossed her across the room.

“You’re going to have to try harder than that!”

Velda hit the wall with a yelp and slid down. Spender chuckled. He’d already defeated her. He’d been expecting more from a peer of Conall’s. He guessed he’d been wrong. Or was he? Doubt ran through him. She couldn’t be that weak.  
Velda jerked when he pulled her head up by her hair. She tried to spit at him, but he covered his face with a spectral shield. “This can’t be right. You’re too pathetic to have killed so many people.”

“Then you know I am not!” She hissed. “If I was strong enough to kill them, I can kill you too!”

Spender caught her fist in his hand, squeezing just tightly enough so that she knew he would win. “That’s not what I meant. After you’ve digested all of those souls, you should be much stronger than this.”

She grinned. “Don’t you think you’re forgetting something?” Spender cocked an eyebrow, but ran through everything he’d learned anyway. Velda was a friend of Conall’s. Velda lured people underwater with some type of song. Velda devoured souls and dumped their bodies into the open sea. Velda’s endgame was- his stomach dropped.

“The tsunami!”

“I thought you knew about that. I knew one of them would squeal.” Feeling his hold weaken in realization, Velda shrugged Spender off, backing away hastily. “I’m surprised it took you so long to remember.” With her body now free, she began pacing back and forth, white wretched eyes watching him with a sneer.

He growled, observing her warily as she pranced around a few puddles. He could see that her stature improved dramatically, like she’d gained control again. “You plan on taking Mayview out with one giant wave. It’ll be over before they know what happened.”

“Just like my death.”

“Just like Conall’s.”

Spender scoffed when spectral energy flew by his head. “In denial, are we?”

“I didn’t love him!”

“You did.”

\-- Beach Square --

“Izzy!” Ed cupped a hand over one side of his mouth. Glancing around, it was becoming more and more obvious Isabel would not be an easy find. That’s not to say she ever was. Isabel was always the winner when it came to hide and seek. He’d spend hours looking for her. One time they had to get the whole dojo looking for her, only to find her hidden in the ceiling- and that was because she got hungry and decided to come down for a juice pouch.  
If she didn’t want to be found, she wouldn’t be found.

That thought alone got the adrenaline going in his veins. He had to find her. “Izzy, come on! Talk to me, would you?” It was dark and there was some evil ghost haunting the beach and if he didn’t find her soon-! He wouldn’t let it come to that. Isabel would be fine. They’d clear up whatever misunderstanding they had and they’d be best friends again. They hadn’t fought side-by-side or stayed up until the early hours of the morning playing video games just for their friendship to fall apart over nothing. They were too strong for that. They had to be.

He still couldn’t wrap his mind around anything that happened. Isabel hated Cindy, he got that much, but why? Why did Isabel hate Cindy? Why wasn’t Isabel happy for him? All their lives she’d been supportive (overwhelmingly in some cases, he remembered as he thought about what she did when he won the spelling bee that one time). Why was it now that she dropped that backing like a rock?

He understood Isabel being upset because he’d practically blindsided her with his relationship. He’d never spoken to her about Cindy because he’d always been pretty sure he didn’t have a chance with her. The thing was- that wasn’t a reason to hate Cindy: that was a reason to be mad at him which, although clearly Isabel was, didn’t measure up to her animosity toward Cindy. Ed just couldn't get why Cindy was getting any wrath for his mistake?

If Isabel had a boyfriend he’d be ecstatic to get to know him. The boy would hardly be able to get Ed off his back. He’d be throwing questions at the kid from a million different directions! Of course he’d scare him, but any guy good enough for Izzy would be able to swallow that fear. The last thing he wanted was for her to get into some relationship that lasted a month before they broke up. She didn’t act like it, but Isabel was a fragile girl. Ed knew that well. That’s why he wanted her first relationship to last forever. He wanted to see them go all the way through middle school, maybe even high school! He wanted to see them dance together at prom and he wanted to be the first to know the moment the guy proposed. He wanted to stand there as the best man (or ‘man’ of honor, if Isabel would let him break a few traditions) and send her off on her honeymoon with a hug and a wise word to the lucky husband.

Of course, marriage might have meant Isabel moving away and starting a family or something, but he’d still be involved, right? That was right, he knew it was. Isabel would still call him all the time and he’d get letters in the mail from her. He’d be the first one (besides the husband) to know she was pregnant.

But what if he wasn’t right? What if all of that came and went and he heard about it in spurts? What if her husband didn’t like him? What if Isabel forgot about him back in Mayview? What if she moved on with her life and he never saw her again and he wasn’t going to be her children’s godfather like they’d talked about when they were kids and what if her calls just stopped coming and he never got any letters in the mail and what if-?!  
Ed’s running slowed to jogging, and eventually the jogging became walking.

Things started clicking: everything Isabel said and every emotion she must have felt when he’d get lost in their conversation because he was texting Cindy. “Oh, Izzy…” Of course she hated Cindy. Of course Isabel was angry at him. Of course. Why wouldn’t she? How could she not? Just the idea of being left behind put a sour taste in his mouth. He couldn’t imagine facing a reality where his fears were very possible.

But they weren’t. Isabel was wrong. He was wrong. Isabel would never abandon him and he’d never abandon Isabel. Those fears were completely valid but they were so, so wrong.

Ed’s hands clenched, a determination and understanding running through him that wasn’t there before. He’d find Isabel.

He always did. He always would.

\-- South Side --

“Watch your step. The waves are getting pretty high and I don’t trust anything that’s not dry.”

Max nodded, eyes scanning the rocky terrain he walked across. The bottoms of their jeans were soaking wet, but that was the least of their worries. The hill slope they stood at the top of was dangerously slick with wet pebbles and stones. If he took one step without watching where he was going- he didn’t want to think about that. Shaking his head vigorously to remove the image, he watched Isaac from where his head was turned to the floor. “So where would this ‘siren’ probably be?”  
“Somewhere Spender was scouting, so over here probably.” Isaac ran his hands along the mountain wall, walking as slowly as he could to avoid tripping and falling and dying. That was the last thing anybody needed right now. Too many dead spectrals spoiled the pot.

“Shouldn’t we take some other way around?”

“Max, do you want to climb through people’s yards after curfew and risk getting our butts in trouble?”

“Not really, no-?”

“Then shut up and walk the mountainside of slippery death.”

They continued on their path in silence, every so often checking their feet to make sure they weren’t taking any potentially life-ending steps. After a while, Max became anxious. There was only so much quiet he could take. He had to break the ice. “Isabel and Ed are gonna be okay, right?”

Isaac seemed surprised at his question, but acknowledged him nevertheless. He sighed, frowning and shrugging his shoulders. “I honestly don’t know, Max. I can’t say I’ve ever seen them get into a fight before.” He really hadn’t. That’s not to say they never fought: he was pretty sure he just wouldn’t have ever heard about it before the Conall situation happened.

“But, they have to have fought somewhere along the line.” Max wasn’t ready to take that as an answer. Being best friends over the span of years wasn’t something that came without work. It took dedication and vigilance. How could they be best friends if they’d never fought? There had to be some form of conflict somewhere along the way. “I don’t know. Maybe this is their first fight?”

“But how is that possible?”

Isaac groaned and looked back at him. “Will you stop asking questions I don’t have the answers to?!”

“Is the sky really blue, or is it some form of gold and the light of the sun is messing with our eyes?”

Isaac screamed and pulled at his spiky hair. “Max, I swear to god-!”

It happened in seconds, but played out in slow motion: the waves got higher and reached farther than their ankles, soaking everything in its path and drenching them up to their knees before crashing down and receding temporarily. It was alarming and distracted them from the danger they were in. They could hardly register what was happening before Isaac made the wrong move and slipped right down the hill, Max reaching for him with a hand that strained as much as he could possibly will it to. Max wasn’t even sure Isaac could hear him screaming after his falling body.


	8. Chapter 8

“I hated him!”

“Because you loved him and that made you weak.”

Velda screeched and slammed another tentacle down in an attempt to crush Spender. He dodged her with little-to-no issue and jumped back a few feet, readying his spectral energy. “I did not love him! He thought I did but I was faking it! I was never under his control!” Her hands rolled into fists at her sides, purple spectral energy flaring around her dangerously. “He was in love with me!”

“You’d like to think that, wouldn’t you?” Spender soared at her, narrowly missing an appendage that went flying past his head. His golden fist made an impact on her stomach and she bent over, coughing. It was a very wet cough. She sounded sick, like something was threatening to spill. He brushed the thought off. Clearly, she didn’t want whatever was coming up to come up. He’d just have to aim there for the remainder of their fight. “It’s too hard to admit that just that one time can break every resolve you ever made. You’d rather pretend he was the fool- that some part of him cared for everybody he used- than admit you were the joker’s puppet.”

He raised his elbow to bring it down upon her lower back, but she moved just in time and smacked him across the face with a tentacle. It hurt, as he’d been slapped by an arm full of suction cups, but he wasn’t thrown off by the attack. Velda jerked backward, almost stumbling on her way. Velda pointed an accusing finger his way, sharpened nail coming within inches of his face. “And who are you to talk?! You’re the consortium’s doll!”  
He gasped when an arm wrapped around his waist uncomfortably tightly and yanked him into the air. She glared up at him, eyes filled with venom he hadn’t necessarily meant to invoke. “What is so important to you there that you must be their toy?! Why do you follow orders blindly? What is your excuse?!”

That was the most awkward moment Spender’s ringing cell-phone had ever caused.

Velda’s anger visually disappeared, her scowl becoming an expression of annoyance and curiosity. “Are you… are you going to pick that up?”

Spender winced uncomfortably. “We are kind of in the middle of a battle and I don’t want to be rude.”

“It’s fine, really. Answer it.” She laughed under her breath. “You know, it may be the last thing you ever do.”

“It won’t be.”

“Are you sure about that?” Velda cocked an eyebrow and set her arms on her hips sarcastically.

She gently sat him down, giving him the chance to reach for his phone. Just as he did, it stopped ringing. They both groaned. “See? You should have just answered it. Now we were interrupted for nothing!” Velda crossed her arms.  
Spender shrugged apologetically. “Sorry, it usually rings a little longer than that.”

“Who was it, anyway? It’s like, midnight or something.”

Spender pulled his phone back out to check. It’d been Isabel. “One of my students, it seems-!” His eyes widened and his hand went slack. He shouldn’t have said that.

“Students?” Velda was very serious again, her voice like a violent whisper on his ear. He moved to the side and avoided eye-contact. “You mean those children that took one of my tentacles clean off?” She gestured with said tentacle, half of it gone. It swung wildly, madly showing off its ripped appearance. “I heard from my ghosts that it was a girl that did this- a little angry girl with red energy.”

'Isabel…'

Spender turned his head even further away. “Ghosts?” Velda smiled behind his back and purred into his ear, malevolence in her voice. “Let me show you what my call can do, puppet.”

\-- Beach Square --

How large was this beach, exactly? Because Ed had been walking around looking for Isabel for a little under an hour and he still hadn’t found her.  
He let out an exasperated sigh.

“Izzy, where are you?”

He trudged along the greenery, stepping over vines and avoiding what looked like poisonous spirits like the plague. He was starting to really regret leaving his cellphone at the house; no matter how broken the glass was it was still probably useable for calls. He could have called her like a billion times by now and she would have eventually answered out of sheer frustration. Several times he thought about circling back, but the thought of Isabel all alone on the beach at midnight where spirits and ghosts weren’t the only danger to a twelve-year-old girl (she could only do so much without using her spectral energy) was enough to stop his heeled turn in a heartbeat.  
“Izzy! Come on! Just talk to me, will you?”

He received no response. Clearly, he was going to have to try harder than that. Ed sighed and ran his hands along the trees, careful to not touch anything that was living and might kill him.

All he wanted was to find Isabel and tell her everything he’d been thinking all night. He wanted to tell her he understood and that he wasn’t angry. He just had to see that look of relief on her face after all that happened. Ed cupped his hands over his mouth.  
“Izzy, do you hear me?!”

Unfortunately for him, he’d temporarily forgotten that he was walking in a concentrated area so full of trees and animals and vines, he’d tripped on some slick slime left behind by a snail’s ghost.  
With a screech of horror, Ed went sailing through bushes, then more bushes, until eventually he crashed face-first into a tree. Both living and dead birds that’d been resting in the tree started to squawk and scream, terrified by the disturbance. Ed pulled away, rubbing his nose to make sure there was no blood. The birds flew away from the tree, flying around the area in circles. The noise rallied the other birds that resided in the canopy, and soon all the birds within hearing distance were crying and screaming furiously.

Ed covered his ears, wincing at the level of sound shaking his eardrums. The headache that was starting to come, be it from knocking straight into the tree or the racket, was nearly unbearable.

“Would all of you cut it out?!”

\-- Beach Square --

Isabel looked around, nervously rubbing her arms. She had no idea where she was.

Isabel stood in the middle of the beach, nothing to see but hills and sand for yards away save for a large staircase leading up on of the mounds. She didn’t think she’d been to this area before. The shore was silent- oddly silent. Of course she knew it was nighttime, so not a lot of people would be out lurking around, but it was still slightly chilling. What was she going to do?

Exhaling, she took her phone out of her pocket and pulled up Spender’s number.

“Please answer. Please, please answer.”

She didn’t know who else to turn to anymore. She hated bothering Spender with her problems, especially with how he’d been recently. After the train incident, she hadn’t really had the opportunity to speak with him. She’d avoided telling him anything- about the bite on her shoulder (which was almost done healing) or the situation with Ed.

It would have been nice to have one of them by her side when her grandfather was chewing her out.

The phone started ringing and Isabel wiped furiously at her eyes.

“Crying is for babies. Come on, Isabel. Grow up.”

Maybe that was scaring her the most: if Ed left her behind, she’d have nobody. Spender had other things to worry about besides her, and now Ed did too. She’d have to worry about herself, and that meant not leaning on anybody for support like she’d been doing for so long.

She was a strong girl. Yes, everything hurt right now. Yes, she felt like she was snapping in two but she could make it. It would be hard getting used to not having Ed around as often and it would be really hard not looking to her teacher every time her grandfather wanted to spew coarse language at her, but she could do it.

She dropped the call before he answered and put her phone back in her pocket.

With a deep breathe, she was ready to move on- or at least start the process.

Then she heard what sounded like a sad, soft tune. Frowning Isabel instinctually listened in to figure out what the noise was. When she realized what she was doing, it was already too late.

\-- Beach Square --

When the birds had finally quieted down, Ed adjusted his glasses. “That took like, ten minutes. Great.” If Isabel was around, those sounds wouldn’t have been any suggestion to come anywhere near his location. Ed frowned and started back on his route, being more careful to check his surroundings before taking a step anywhere.

Eventually he saw a light at the end of the greenery.

He hurried over to it with a sigh of relief. “Thank god, I thought I was going to be lost in there forever!”

He found himself at a nice clearing between the restaurants and the water, nothing but sand and stairs.

Oh yes; and Isabel standing directly in the middle, facing the sea.

Ed gasped and ran toward her. “Izzy, I finally found you!”

He stood beside her unresponsive persona, breathing heavily out of excitement and fatigue. “Did you hear me calling for you?” When she didn’t respond, he frowned and shrugged, turning to face the water, too. “That doesn’t matter anyway. We need to talk, Izzy- about Cindy.”

She still didn’t say a word.

Ed’s frown deepened. “By talk I mean you have to say something.” Isabel didn’t even move. Ed sighed and put a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, are you listening to me?” With just that touch, he realized her shoulder was awfully stiff and it wasn’t just his touch.  
Breathe catching in fear, he ran around so that he was in front of Isabel.

His suspicions were confirmed.

Isabel’s eyes were devoid of any and all emotion, casted at the sea behind him. “Oh no, Izzy, no!” He grimaced and shook his head. She’d saved him and broken him out of it. He could do it for her. He shook her shoulders softly, careful to not hurt her. “Izzy? Izzy come on! Wake up. I know there’s some part of you that can hear me. There has to be.”

Isabel didn’t change. She didn’t blink or smile or give him any sign she heard him, but he knew she did.

“You’re one of the strongest people I know. Heck, maybe you’re the strongest! Whenever there’s a battle, you’re always rushing in right next to me to take them down.” She didn’t answer, but he continued anyway. “That’s’ how I know you can beat this. And when you wake up, we’ll take this ghost down together, okay? Mister Spender is already on her tail. He needs our help, Izzy! You know he thinks he can handle it, but he really can’t. He’s as bad as we are about biting off more than we can chew.”  
Then he got a signal: her eyes closed.

Ed gasped and smiled, hands tightening at her shoulders. “Izzy, are you awake?! Oh, man that’s awesome! I thought it was gonna take a lot longer to-!”

His stomach dropped as she started moving forward, pushing past him and walking directly out to sea.

She was still asleep.

\-- Rental Home --

Everything was silent. Every light in the house was still turned on- just the way the Activity Club had left it.

In the quiet of Isabel’s and Ed’s shared bedroom, Ed’s cellphone started ringing.

It rang and buzzed in place, his screen lighting up when it would move.

When nobody answered, the phone stopped ringing and everything was still again.


	9. Chapter 9

Max took a deep breath before going back underwater. His hat was gone- where, he didn’t know. That wasn’t really what he was worried about finding. He’d been looking for Isaac for the past minute and time was running out.

He had to find him. He had to find him. Please!

The water was murky at best, clouding his vision for yards. He could hardly see the fish that were close enough to touch, let alone find a person. His stomach sunk, but he picked himself back up and got back to searching. If Isaac died, he’d never get to see him again. He wouldn’t rush down the stairs to wait for him each morning. He’d walk to school alone. There’d be no laying his head in Isaac’s lap and sleeping. He’d never get to kiss him- just once.

He’d never get to tell Isaac that he made his heart pound in his chest or that he made him feel weak in the knees or that he felt so lonely when he wasn’t around or that he liked him.

He liked him.

He liked Isaac and he’d never get to tell him if he didn’t freaking find him!

Then from the corner of his eye, Max saw something move. His heart jumped in his chest at the sight. Isaac!

He spotted the red spikes from only a few inches away. Isaac was awake, but he was clearly struggling to breathe. The medium was tugging at something Max couldn’t clearly see. He swam over, yanking on Isaac’s sleeve. When Isaac noticed Max’s presence, his eyes lit up. Those blues were as clear as day, no matter how murky the water got.

Max raised an eyebrow as to question why he hadn’t swum up yet. Isaac covered his mouth with his forearm to keep himself from trying to breathe in the water and nodded downwards. Max followed his line of sight and found that Isaac’s pants were stuck under a pile of rocks. He shot a determined glance Isaac’s way and swam down to the pile. Moving his leg with as much force as he could muster underwater, Max kicked the rocks back and watched them sail down to the depths he couldn’t see. With a triumphant smile, he yanked on Isaac’s sweater to pull himself up to his level.

There was no response to Max’s tugging and he quickly realized why. Isaac was unconscious.

Max’s eyes widened and he shook Isaac’s shoulders, but there wasn’t much he could do underwater. He had to make a move, quickly. His lungs were screaming for air and his sight was getting blurry. What could he do? What was there to do?

Blood rushed to his cheeks and he wasn’t sure if it was his lack of air or his racing heart, but he ignored it anyway. Everything seemed to slow down. The waves weren’t as strong, or at least not as grating, and all urgency he was feeling almost fell away as the answer presented itself to him.

Cupping Isaac’s face in both his hands, Max closed his eyes, leaned in, and crashed their lips together.

Please let this be enough.

Isaac’s eyelids parted slowly, the world he’d shut out coming back to him in bits and pieces. First he noted that he was still underwater, which he wasn’t all that surprised by. Second, he felt something warm against his lips. The presence was soft moved gently against his mouth, relaxing him while his mind started back up.

His eyes shot open when he realized what Max was doing. Max’s breath was pouring in through his lungs, dissipating the weakness that’d swept over him. The recognition that Max’s lips and his were touching was only part of the thing that got his heart hammering with adrenaline. Max gradually became limp, their lips parting as his head fell to Isaac’s shoulder. Without a second thought, Isaac snapped into action and pointed his hand below them. Wrapping an arm around Max’s waist, he made a minute tornado in the water that sent both of them flying out of the ocean and into the air.

Isaac pulled Max’s limp body closer, cradling his head in his arms as they took the plunge back to land. He twisted their bodies so that his body shielded Max from the blow. Just before they made impact, Isaac created a cloud that slowed them down.

Still, they went rolling away from the beach.

Relieved to be on shore, Isaac sat up and took a deep breathe. He blanched at the tight feeling in his chest just before he bent over to cough up what seemed like a gallon of water. It kept coming and it seemed like forever before he cleared the water out of his lungs. By the time he was done, his stomach felt twisted and he could hardly breathe. With the urgency of air gone, Isaac could finally think straight. He’d fallen into the water, gotten stuck under a pile of rocks, Max saved him…

“Max!”

The medium turned to look at Max, who lay unconscious beside him. Water trailed down his chin, signaling he’d coughed it up in his sleep, but Isaac had to be sure.

Pressing his hands together over Max’s chest, he pressed down as hard as he could three times. When Max still didn’t wake up, he did it three more times. After the third try, he was starting to get worried.

Isaac’s mind flashed back to Max saving him underwater. His heart clenched.

He grimaced, eyebrows coming together at his forehead. “No, come on you idiot. Wake up. Wake up!”

Max couldn’t go out that way. He couldn’t just save Isaac’s life and then die on him. Isaac wouldn’t let him!

Inhaling heavily, Isaac parted Max’s lips and pressed them to his own. He pushed as much air as he could into Max’s mouth, pausing every time between breathes to pound on his chest. The process continued without any results and Isaac was starting to get desperate. When he pulled away from the fourth try, he coughed into his hand- and not because he was out of breath. He was fighting back tears that were building in his eyes, but his chest had already fallen victim to what he was feeling. “Max, I’m going to try this one more time.” He sniffed and wiped his nose with his already soaked sleeve. “Please wake up this time. Please.” He cupped Max’s cheek in one hand and moved his hair out of his face with the other. “You wanna know why I get dressed so quickly? It’s because I’ve gotten used to it.” Isaac managed a laugh through the tears that were coming.

He wiped them away again and shook his head. “I’m always rushing to see you in the morning, you know? I wanna see you as soon as possible. Just you make the thought of school and the activity club bearable.” Max still didn’t respond- no breathing no fluttering eyes behind eyelids; nothing. “Sure, I know Isabel and Ed are my friends, but you’re my best friend. You’re the thing that got to me the most during that whole Conall situation. Without you I’d be dead right now. You saved me. I can’t let you die saving me again.”

Isaac leaned down and pressed his forehead to Max’s, their noses just grazing each-other. “Wake up so I can say all of this to your face, will you?”

Their lips came together again, Isaac giving Max all the air he had to give, silently begging for him to wake up with every second that passed.

He didn’t notice Max open his eyes, pupils dilating before the grey orbs closed again.

What Isaac did notice was the abrupt breath he was getting back and the pressure that pushed against his lips that wasn’t there before. Isaac relaxed and, suddenly, it wasn’t exactly resuscitation anymore. It was something soft, innocent, and a long-time coming.

Max’s lips pushed against Isaac’s as they melted into their first kiss.

It lasted longer than it probably should have, both of them lost in the sensations of something they’d wanted for so long. Everything Max thought of while they’d been on the beach- kissing him in the water, kissing him in the morning, kissing him on the shores of Beach Square- couldn’t compare to the real thing.

When they finally pulled away, it wasn’t very far. Isaac sat back a few inches, but stayed relatively close. The look on his face said it all. “I really scared you, didn’t I?” Max chuckled with as much enthusiasm as he could (which wasn’t a whole lot). Isaac laughed and shook his head. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I thought you were gone!”

Max opened his mouth to make some type of witty retort, but the sounds of snapping twigs broke the moment. Both of them jumped to look at whatever was approaching, spectral energy flaring.

There Cindy stood, completely covered in leaves and twigs and everything else one would expect from crawling around in the greenery. She blinked at them, eyes wide in what seemed to be either amusement or curiosity. “I’m sorry. Did I interrupt something? I’m just looking for Ed. I can come back later!”

 

“I tried calling Ed, but he didn’t pick up. I knew there had to be something wrong.” Cindy frowned and tilted her head, knotting the bandage she’d tied around Isaac’s head. Max hadn’t even noticed the cut on the side of his head until she’d pointed it out. While he was thinking about it, he wiped Isaac’s blood from his forehead where they’d touched. Ten minutes later and his heart was still racing.

He looked over at Isaac and questioned if he felt the same.

“I’m glad I found you guys when I did. I knew I was right. I had a feeling in my gut that I was.”

“Perhaps it was female intuition?”

“The love of a woman is more like it.” Isaac managed a light laugh when she winked at him. “Now, what’s happening here? Where’s Ed or Isabel or Mister Spender?”

(“Kinda creepy you know all of us already…” Max muttered to the side sarcastically).

Isaac shrugged. “We don’t know. We were looking for them when I fell down that slope.”

Cindy stood up and dusted her dress off. “Well I guess I’ll just help you find them!”

Isaac was pale when she offered him her hand. The gesture was completely missed as he’d blanked out after ‘help’. “Ah, um… no. No, we’ve got this. It’s all good.”

Cindy set one hand on her hip and leaned forward so she was in Isaac’s face. “Ed warned me you were stubborn. Well I’m not having any of it, mister!” Max snickered at the sigh of her wagging a finger in his friend’s face- like a mother scolding her child. Isaac wasn’t so pleased. In fact, he was very visually alarmed. “Max!”

“What?”

“Look!”

Suddenly, Max realized it wasn’t Cindy Isaac had been so scared of.

Ghosts that swayed in the wind alarmingly had taken notice of their appearance. “Do you think they’re friendly?”

Isaac growled and stood up, grabbing Cindy’s hand and nodding to Max. “Move!” Cindy tried to pull away to see what was chasing after them, turning her head over her shoulder every chance she got. Isaac hardly gave her an opportunity. “What?! I don’t understand! Why are we running?”

“I take it that’s a no?!”

Max followed suit, tossing his soaking wet cap back onto his head before taking off after his teammates.

 

They’d run all the way from South Side to Beach Square (roughly half the island) before they’d stopped. Even so, the ghosts were still on their tail, and they were running out of ideas. Cindy fell to her knees in the water as an attempt to cool off. Isaac and Max watched “We’ve tried hiding. We’ve tried distracting. We’ve even tried disguises and it didn’t work.” Max panted heavily and glared at Isaac from the corner of his eye. “What now?”

Isaac sighed and shook his head. “We have a few minutes before they catch up with us.”

“So? We’ve already tired-!”

“Take Cindy and run.”

“What?!”

Isaac straightened up, trying to make himself seem taller. It didn’t work on Max. It never did and he didn’t know why Isaac tried, but the medium still pulled it anyway. “You’re still a newbie. You don’t know how to use your tool and I shoot lightning.” He whispered. “I can hold them off until you get her somewhere safe.”

“No way!” Max hissed back. “I am absolutely not leaving you here!”

“We don’t have much of a choice!”

“Well, there just so happens to be a third choice: it’s to stop talking and start fighting.”

Max shrieked as a ghost’s hand reached for his shoulder, only to be sliced in half. When he turned around to see what’d happened, he noticed the bright pink glow of Cindy’s cellphone- which was now a sabre clip knife. In moments, Cindy was flipping over their shoulders, slashing through unwanted ghosts left and right with an unearthly fuchsia aura flaring. A few ghosts tried to take her from behind, but she giggled and enveloped her tool into her aura, shrouding them in bright pink mist. When the light faded, she held several throwing knives that she shot at them, cutting straight through their heads. Cindy snapped and the knives came back like boomerangs. She caught them between her fingers without so much as a scratch and nailed another few ghosts behind Isaac and Max with them.

Only seconds had past, and everything they’d been running from for the last half hour was either sliced, chopped in half, or dwindling between spiritual life and death.

Cindy turned around and shot them a pout that looked innocent enough, arms crossed over her chest. They could still see her knives and they weren’t so sure it was a coincidence that they did.

“If you two weren’t gonna, somebody had to.”

“Could you um,” Isaac nodded to her tool “put those away, please?”

“Oh, of course!” She cloaked the blades in her aura again and her cellphone was back to normal.

Max and Isaac stared at her with their bodies slack and their mouths wide open for a good three minutes, much to her visible annoyance. Max blinked and pointed at her cautiously, the back of his hand pressed against his chest as to not seem offensive. “You are not the same girl Ed introduced us to.”

“Yes, I am. My life wasn’t being threatened and I wasn’t the only one doing anything about it.” Cindy briskly signaled to the remains of the ghosts she’d fought. She wasn’t offended by Max’s comment but she was still clearly not happy they hadn’t done anything.

“But you’re all happy and cheery and kinda creepy smiley?”

“Really, it’s just that I was in a good mood! My boyfriend was there, I was finally meeting the ever-elusive Isabel, and my life was not being threatened.” Cindy began stressing each word out the closer she got to the end of her sentence with jerky movements of both her hands, waving as violently as she could make them. Isaac and Max exchanged looks, eyebrows raised to ask the same question. “You’re telling me you’re not in a different frame of mind when ghosts try to kill you?”

“Is this why Ed likes you? I feel like this is why Ed likes you.”

She stared at them blankly for a few minutes before she tossed her head back laughing, leaving both of them even more confused than they were before. “Are you kidding? He’d never bring a girl home to protective Izzy who couldn’t fight. That sorta thing would not fly in his world and that’s where I intend to stay.” She made a flat airplane with her hand and slid it across the air.

“So this is why Ed likes you?”

“Actually, I’m not sure he knows I’m a spectral.” She paused and glanced at the sky to think. “But he knows I can defend myself, I suppose, so yes.”

“Nailed it.”

Isaac glared at Max and slapped him upside the head.

On a whim, Max glanced in the general direction of the water- only to find there was no water. Where there were once softly crashing waves, there was sand- wet and muddy from the liquid that had once been there. “Uh, Isaac? Can you, um-?”

The medium looked confused before he followed Max’s line of sight. When what was happening finally clicked, horror struck his face. “Oh god, a tsunami! Velda was going to create a tsunami, remember?!”

Cindy’s eyes widened. “What?! Who’s Velda?!”

“Bad, bad news! It’s a long story and we do not have time!” Isaac set his hands on her shoulders to get his point across, shaking her lightly. “Well, I’d say we have even less time now! Look!”

Max pointed at the empty beach where ghosts started to climb out from under the sand- everywhere.

\-- Underwater Cave --

Spender watched from a distance in horror as Velda bent over like she’d been punched in the stomach with one hand on her chest and the other at her waist. She was throwing up ectoplasm in buckets, her whole body jolting every so often. Even in her weakened state, she was smiling at him from where she kneeled with ectoplasm dripping from her chin. Her hair was caught in the substance but she didn’t seem to notice. “I told you…” She choked up another gallon of ectoplasm. Spender was terrified to see that wasn’t the only thing she spat that time.

Something transparent fell from her lips as well, mingled in the rainbow of the ectoplasm.

The puddle sat on the cold ground of the cave for what seemed like an eternity before there was a movement under the material. Five hands shot up at once, turning and clawing at the ground in an attempt to pull away from their wet prison.

The teacher backed even further away, fists coming up in defense.

Velda snickered between spouts of release, nodding at her creation. “Take- take him down. D-destroy him…”

They were ghosts, risen from the depth of however many stomachs Velda seemed to have obtained through whatever means. Spender would need to look into that one. The transparent beings wandered in his direction, eyes looking like they were melting and bodies dripping on the floor. He grimaced and readied his spectral energy, creating shadows nearby. He meant to ask her how she did any of this, be it the ghosts or the ectoplasm, but a bone-chilling screech interrupted him.

Velda swung her head back, hair covered in excrements flying over her face as she screamed at the top of her lungs- at least he hoped that was the top of her lungs. Any louder and his glasses would have shattered. Somewhere under the shouting, he could hear what sounded like the notes of a song. Realizing what it was, he covered his ears.

Whatever she had coming was not pretty.


	10. Chapter 10

He jumped left and right with as much vigor and fury as he could muster, just barely dodging the never-ending attacks from the ghosts Velda choked up. Spender reached forward and grabbed the throat of one of the ghosts, picking them up and slamming them into the floor before shrouding them in the darkness of his shadow.

A few feet away, Velda crouched to the ground, panting heavily and sloppily wiping her mouth clear of all the ectoplasm. The smirk on her face said everything it needed to- she felt on top of the world. “Did you know I could target people with my call? I don’t just sing and let whoever approaches become a key component in my revenge.”

“How do you choose them, then?!” Spender grunted as he blocked another ghost’s sneak attack, forearm burning at the weight the apparition was managing. With a cry, he let his arm fall just before he dodged and moved around so he was facing the enemy’s back. His spectral fist sent the ghost flying into the cave wall across the room. “Did they have special training while they were alive? Perhaps certain skills you required?”

She laughed. “Oh no, nothing like that.” Carefully, she brought herself to a standing position, knees bending just a little under the weight of how heavy her head felt. “They’re weak. Their minds are susceptible to control. It’s like what Conall could do, only I can devour their souls and keep them for when they’re most convenient.” Spender gasped as a fairly large ghost charged him from behind and rammed him into a wall, much to Velda’s amusement. “Though I can’t say the bigger men and women I lured are not useful.”

A few seconds later, the bigger ghost was rolling across the room, knocking into other spirits like a bowling ball. She cocked an eyebrow as he emerged from the hole they’d made in the wall. His eyes were focused on her, but his hand was pointed warningly at her minions, glowing bright in his golden aura. Spender’s eyes said murder, and she knew his brain did too. “Having fun?”

“This isn’t really my definition of a good time.”

“How disappointing, because I’m having a blast.”

“Literally or figuratively?”

“Figuratively, but I get the feeling you want to make it literally.”

He pointed his other fist at her and smiled. “Excellent assumption.”

They were interrupted by the sound of air bubbles popping, then the tan skin of a soaked body floating in the water in the center of the cave. Spender recognized Isabel immediately, but kept his mouth shut to avoid any unnecessary complications. No matter how badly his heart was racing in fear for his student, calling out to her would only put her in more danger than she was already in. Velda’s smirk became toothy, red lips baring white fangs. “Ah, there she is. Richard Spender, meet the new minion I’ve called upon. Pretty, isn’t she? If I had more souls like hers my tsunami would be beautiful- just as revenge should be.” She sighed and turned her head over her shoulder to look at him. “It’s a shame I don’t have the time to collect more like her.”

“What’s stopping you?”

“I’m a medium, but as a ghost my bond with my spirit will last only so long before I’m wiped from existence.” She glanced down at her transparent hands, clenching and unclenching her fingers. “Conall had the same idea, if his charisma became a power. He was betting his life the same way I’m betting mine. He had one shot and now I do, too.” Their eyes met. Even through his glasses she could read him. “That’s why I can’t let you stop me. I will avenge my death and I don’t care how ugly it looks- how ugly I look. Your precious city will be history once this tsunami hits!”

“Just like you are?”

“Yes…” She hissed “… just like me.”

With a snap of her fingers, Isabel’s eyes opened, and the spectral slowly sat up in the water. Spender winced and bit back another cry for her to wake up. Her dark hair covered one of her soulless eyes, making her even more daunting than she was when she had her battle grin. Velda waved to her with a finger. “Come to me, child.” She could see Spender struggling and she had an idea why. Of course she knew this was a student of his- specifically the one who’d caught her tentacle and had the power to rip it off. If anything, the girl would be useful as a shield but twice as valuable as a power-up to her tsunami.

Isabel gradually pulled herself out of the water, body dripping so heavily she almost made puddles with every step she took. Velda wasn’t even looking her way, eyes concentrated on the teacher who was having an inner battle with himself.

He could jump forward and save Isabel, but then he’d risk not only an attack from Velda, but several attacks from the ghosts he was hardly keeping at bay (they were starting to inch closer and he had to continue flaring his aura to remind them he was watching). If he didn’t, there were a number of things that could happen to Isabel. One, Velda could have her attack him, which he’d be able to stand against but he was betting Velda knew that. Two, she could use Isabel as a human shield and then he’d have a real problem. There was no way he could hurt Isabel, regardless of the situation. Of course, that would mean Velda assumed he was going to attack first, which from her standpoint it would have been very clear he wasn’t. Third, Velda was going to devour Isabel’s soul and kill her in an attempt to strengthen her tsunami. That was probably the most likely, unless he wanted to be open to attack from her and her ghosts.

Spender grimaced and made his decision.

Velda sneered when he made a run for her, leaping over attacks from the ghosts and using shadows like stairs to climb into the air above her. “Got you!” She raised a tentacle to smack him into the ground. Spender got closer and closer to it before realizing she’d tricked him and he should have assumed that was what she’d been trying to do. It was a catch 22. No matter what he did, he would have played right into her hands. The appendage racing toward him got even faster and he was having a hard time slowing down. Velda threw her head back and laughed as the tentacle came in contact- but not with the teacher. Her giggling came to an abrupt halt as she realized another one of her tentacles had been chopped off, the pain dull and excruciating. Spender stood tall on one of the stairs he created, but it was clear that hadn’t been his work. Instead she saw a blonde head of hair running at her, a scimitar sword- made of black paint, it looked like- in hand.

Velda jumped out of the way, but at the expense of yet another tentacle and her place by the girl.

The boy noticed just and time and skidded to a stop with his heels, brandishing a look of disgust and wrath she hadn’t seen anywhere but her reflection. “Keep your filthy legs off Isabel!”

“Ed! What are you doing here?! I told you children to stay inside!” Although he was irritated his students hadn’t listened to him, he was relived Ed had gotten there when he had. He was soaked from head-to-toe, but his presence calmed Spender down. If there was anybody beside him who would fight to protect Isabel with vigor, it was Ed.

Ed looked up at him and shrugged his forearms. “Well you didn’t exactly tell us in person, you know. Izzy was out the door before Isaac and Max could tell her.”

“And you?”

“Yeah I just didn’t listen.”

Velda let out a war cry and charged at Ed, tentacles flying in different directions out of sheer ferocity. Ed ducked and wielded his sword the same way he had before, hopping around so that he was behind her. He lashed out at her back, but made only a small cut before Velda turned and swung at him. Spender jumped down from his stairs to help, but one of the ghosts caught his foot and tossed his to the other side of the cave.

Ed looked over, startled by the crashing sounds. “Mister Spender!”

He made a move to help him, but found a tentacle wrapping around his knees. Ed yelped as Velda yanked his feet off the floor, slamming his head against the ground before she spun him around over her head and threw him into the wall closest to her. He landed awkwardly and slid down, breathing becoming increasingly difficult. The paintbrush fell from his hands as he hit the ground face-first.

He didn’t notice her standing threateningly above him, raising an appendage to crush his body. Just before she could, he noticed her movements out of the corner of his eye and twisted so that he lay on his back, putting up a spectral barrier. Velda continued with all her strength, pressing down against his shield in an attempt to break it. Ed agonizingly reached for his tool in the meantime, wincing under the pressure that was starting to get to him. He had to win. If he didn’t-!

She growled. Her power was wearing thin. She could feel herself fading away the weaker and weaker she grew. She needed more power- she needed more sustenance. With a hand raised, she pointed at Isabel and parted her lips. Isabel mimicked her and opened her mouth. Velda closed her fingers and made a pulling motion. In only a few moments, a red ball of light illuminated Isabel’s chest, thumping audibly like a heartbeat.

\-- Beach Square --

Cindy sliced straight through what seemed like the millionth ghost, gasping for the air the escaped her. Somewhere behind her, she could tell Max and Isaac weren’t doing much better. Max was doing a good job of masking his discomfort, but she could still hear the gulps of pain that came with every hit he took. Isaac was trying hard not to hit them both with friendly fire, and that was perhaps what was tiring him out the most. They weren’t going to last much longer. Whatever Mister Spender was doing, he better have been doing it fast because there was only so much time left before the tsunami hit.

“Where do these things keep coming from?” Max grunted. “It’s like they never end!”

“Velda’s killed hundreds here, Max. They’ll keep coming until we’ve reached the end of her portfolio.”

“You’d think she could be a bit more creative and kill something not human, you know?”

Then without warning, the ground shook and threw them all off balance. Cindy yelped as she fell on her back, the ghost she’d been fighting falling on top of her. It pinned her arms above her head, but she slammed her head against its own. It released one of her wrists. She switched which handle wielded her tool and stabbed it in the back of the neck with her free hand.

Max fell into Isaac, who caught him and balanced them out with a cloud of wind behind his back. Just as they thought the miniature earthquake stopped, they heard it- a loud, vicious roar that echoed in their ears. The three spectrals watched the empty sea with dismayed faces, where a giant squid (and by giant, it was the size of three houses) rose from the muddy sand, arms flying in different directions as it fought to reach the surface. Their jaws dropped collectively.

Isaac glared down at his friend who was still in his arms with malice. “You had to say something, didn’t you?!”

\-- Underwater Cave --

Spender watched in horror as the ball of light- Isabel’s soul and the essence of all that she was and would ever be- began rising from his student’s chest. It was clear Isabel was fighting it, as the ball kept climbing up then dropping down rapidly, but it might not have been enough. “Isabe-!” He was cut off by one of the other ghosts sending a fist at his throat, which he caught just in time. He had to do something. Isabel was his responsibility and his student and like a child to him because he’d seen her grow into the girl she was today. The thought of all of that disappearing was like a knife straight through his chest.

Ed wheezed when he realized what Velda was doing. With a stern hand, he finally reached his paintbrush. Before Velda could see him, he drew a line thin enough to be just as sharp as he needed it and sliced at the tentacle that fought against his spectral barrier. It worked and Velda was distracted by the pain that shot through her. She pulled away as fast as she could, both hand flying to her nearly divided limb. Ed hurried to stand up. While she was still distracted, Ed rushed forward and tackled Velda to the ground, arms locking around her waist as he sent them flying.

The ball of light fell back down to its place in Isabel’s chest, but she stayed subdued.

\-- Beach Square --

Max rolled out of the way just as a feeding tentacle came down where his head would have been. “Hey, Isaac?! How are you doing with taking out that mantle?!”

“It is a lot harder that it looks!” Isaac jumped on clouds he created repeatedly to keep himself in the air while he shot lightning at his target. “This thing is hardly reacting!”

“Try cutting its fins off!” Cindy called from her place on the ground. She was a few yards away, cutting down what ghosts she could. She was visibly tiring, but the rush of adrenaline she got from the squid that towered over them, threatening to end their lives, was enough to keep her fighting. “Why its fins?”

“Get rid of those and it’ll lose its balance!”

Max smirked up at the squid’s arms from where he laid and reached for his bat. “I can distract it for a while and you can tear those fins off. Can you manage that Isaac?”

The medium nodded and side-stepped onto another cloud to avoid a feeding tentacle that swung his way.

Max threw his bat against the squid’s arms, scaring it and drawing attention. Max knew because the thing roared and parted it arms to surround him. He screeched and slid through the cage of its tentacles and started running. “I’m pretty sure I’ve got agro, Isaac! I repeat, Max has got agro and he needs you to freaking shoot this thing now!” With a little more concentration, Isaac closed his eyes and threw out his hands. The bullet he made would have to be strong- stronger than anything else he’d shot that night, but he was confident he could do it. He felt the electricity under his skin rise to the surface, sparkling and popping like fireworks. Isaac smiled confidently and opened his eyes again to aim at the fins. Once he was sure he’d aimed as well as he could, he took the shot at the tip of the squid.

The electricity hit and not only blew the fins off, but electrocuted the entire squid.

It exploded in a kaleidoscope of colors and ectoplasm, covering the wet sand in a rainbow. Cindy yelped and covered herself in a bubble, bending down so that the substance hit the ghosts that surrounded her. Each one hissed and screamed as they burned and disappeared.

Isaac covered his face with his arm, but couldn’t put up a spectral shield. He’d already exerted too much of his energy. The ectoplasm covered everything but his mouth, nose and eyes.

Max looked around for protection and found a convenient rock large enough to shield most of him.

\-- Underwater Cave --

Ed struggled to breathe as Velda pinned him by his throat to the ground. Tackling her hadn’t gone exactly the way he’d planned, but it got her off of Isabel. Now he just had to worry about getting her off of him.

Spender took his shadow and covered one of the ghosts with it, blinding them as they fought to get the shadow off of their head. The other two laid on the ground, one of them unconscious. The other one did what they could to stand up. He scanned the cave for Ed, confused as to where he and Velda might have gone. When he finally spotted them, his heart stopped. “Ed!” The boy was going deathly red in the face and it was clear Velda didn’t plan on letting go any time soon.

The teacher sprinted toward them with his aura flaring in anger. She killed hundreds of Mayview citizens on his watch and she was going to take his students away too? There was no chance he was going to let that happen.

Even so, he couldn’t help what roadblocks may arise, like the ghost he thought unconscious grabbing his ankle and pulling him back to the ground. Spender landed roughly, slamming his chin against the rock of the cave. He cried out in pain, but shrugged it off when he realized the ghost was climbing the length of his body to claw at his face. He grunted and pushed his hand against the ghost’s face, shoving him back as much as he could. It was clear he wasn’t going to be able to help Ed, but he knew someone who could.

“Isabel! Isabel, can you hear me?!”

She didn’t respond to him, but he wasn’t discouraged.

“Isabel, Ed’s in trouble! He can’t fight Velda alone!” He grunted as the other ghost piled on top of the one he was already fending off, hands reaching for Spender’s glasses- probably to get at his eyes. “I know you can hear me! I know somewhere in there you’re fighting whatever affect Velda’s song had on you! You have to do this!”

Then he saw it, a flicker of recognition in her barren eyes. Her lids fluttered behind her dripping hair. Her lips moved just slightly, as if she was thinking about saying something. She was thinking!

“If you don’t stop her all of Mayview is going to pay for it!” He grunted again, flinching at the proximity of the ghost’s hands. “Isabel, Ed needs you! A friend should never fight alone!”

Ed wheezed as the grip on his neck tightened painfully. He could hardly see. Dots of black distorted his eyesight and all he could do was helplessly pry at the hand taking his life. Velda snickered and raised her other hand, spectral energy starkly blazing around her hand. “Say goodbye, little spectral.” She leaned down so that her face was inches away from his, just so he could clearly hear her with the blood that must have been pounding in his ears. “May you find a peace in death I never could.”

Ed choked. The world was fading all around him and he couldn’t do anything about it. He’d never get to see Cindy again. He’d never hang out with the rest of the Activity or poke fun at Isaac. He’d never see Max get to be a confident spectral, but most of all he’d never get to tell Isabel he was sorry.

At least, that was what he thought before something flew into Velda ta frighteningly high speeds. Immediately, Ed sat up and coughed, inhaling heavily and grasping for the air he’d been denied for longer than was probably healthy. When his chest finally stopped burning and his sight returned to him, he glanced to the side to find what had saved him.

He was ecstatic to find Isabel on top of Velda, fist pulled back and scorching with red energy. Her aura was nothing compared to the fire in her eyes.

“Keep your filthy hands off my best friend!”

Ed breathed a sigh of relief. 'Izzy!'

Velda screeched in anger and wrapped her tentacles around Isabel’s waist.

Isabel smirked.

“Go ahead. Toss me. I dare you.”

Velda didn’t heed her warning, pulling her in and then throwing her into the roof of the cave. Isabel was ready when it came. She braced herself and twisted in the air so that she hit the ceiling feet-first. When Velda realized her mistake, it was too late. Isabel readied her fist then pushed off the wall and bolted into Velda, sending them crashing into the floor. They made a crater so deep they were swimming in the water underneath.

\-- Beach Square --

“Was that… the last of them?” Cindy hunched over, panting. They’d been fighting for so long and she was so tired. A drop of sweat fell from her hairline to her eyebrow and she stuck her tongue out, disgusted. She quickly wiped it away with her hand. Max peeked out from behind his rock, eyes searching the area for more ghosts. “I think that’s all for now, but there’s no way we fought hundreds. There are probably more on the way. We should hightail it out of here.”

He called up at the artificial clouds that still hung in the sky. “You agree, Isaac?”

Without so much as an answer, the medium fell backwards, body running to the ground. Cindy screeched but didn’t think fast enough to make a move. Max jumped out from behind the rock and used it to propel himself into the air, grabbing Isaac and catching him before he could hurt himself too much.

By the time they landed, Cindy was running toward them and Max was cradling Isaac in his arms. Isaac opened his eyes slowly, eyebrows pinched together. “We took it down, right?”

“The squid? Yeah that thing’s long gone. You’ve got ectoplasm all over you from it, see?”

“Shoot, that reminds me.” He created a small cloud the size of a dictionary and made it rain over them, washing away the acid that covered his body. The water was cooling against Max’s skin, not like the water they’d nearly drowned in together. In his arms, Isaac looked comfortable- content and even a little playful, considering he reached up and tapped the rim of Max’s cap. Max laughed and smiled down at him warmly, eyes lighting up. The ectoplasm fell from Isaac’s skin bit by bit, leaving the same boy he knew in its place. He thought about kissing Isaac again- for real, not just some accident. Again, he was wondering what Isaac would do or say if he closed the space between them, but he knew what Isaac would do. Isaac wouldn’t fight him. Isaac wouldn’t hate him. Isaac would still be Isaac, even if their lips met again. Isaac’s smile disappeared. “But no, I was talking about the tsunami. I have no idea how long I was out for.” Max’s musings stopped cold when the real problem hit him. “Oh yeah, about that…”

Cindy glanced out into the ocean and gasped, pupils shrinking as she took one step back in fear. The sound of rushing water was becoming more and more apparent- and she could even see it from the mile away that it was.

\-- Underwater Cave --

Velda felt more comfortable in her environment, grabbing Isabel’s hair and tugging violently. Isabel squeaked, but when water filled her mouth and nostrils, she regretted opening her mouth. Velda laughed at that, pulling Isabel to look her in the eyes. Even with water filling her ears, Isabel heard her clearly. “Fighting for the sake of a man- I am very familiar with that.”

A pair of hands reached into the water and grabbed onto Isabel’s shoulders, yanking her out of Velda’s grasp and back into the cave. Isabel squeezed her eyes shut until she felt her head resting on solid rock. Her head was spinning, but she still managed to open her eyes. Ed’s face was above hers, that ear-to-ear grin on his face like it always was. She smiled back and him and coughed into her hand, clearing her throat of the salty water she’d swallowed.

One transparent hand clawed at the surface of the cave and Isabel scooted back to avoid any contact with it. Velda pulled herself back up, torso leaning over the hole they’d created. When her eyes found Isabel’s, they were dark and furious. Isabel glared right back at her. “I’m not just fighting for his sake. I’m fighting for my life and the lives of everybody I’ve ever cared about who lives in Mayview!” Velda jumped at her and Isabel shoved Ed out of the way just in time. Velda pressed her forearms to Isabel’s throat, but Isabel held strong against her and fought her. “And even if it was for him, Ed is definitely worth fighting for!”

Velda growled as Isabel swung their heads together, distracting her while Isabel slipped out from underneath her. “He’s earned my loyalty!”

She rubbed her head where Isabel’s hit. “Men only want to manipulate you. One woman to another- it will be your downfall.”

“If you trust the wrong one, that is.” Isabel’s battle grin was back. As Velda struggled to stand, Isabel winked at Ed, who raised an eyebrow in confusion. When the ghost finally got to her feet, Isabel dashed forward and grabbed onto a tentacle and yanked aggressively. Velda cried out as Isabel started running in a circle around her, tying her up in her own tentacle. Ed soon caught on and grabbed a tentacle opposite the one his friend had grabbed and ran the other direction. They both met at her front and threw the tentacles over each-other like they were tying a shoe.

They pulled them together and tightened the already choking grip on Velda’s body. She screamed and wiggled in the grip of her own appendages, eyes like daggers at the young spectrals in front of her. They looked awfully proud of themselves, even fist-bumping as a point of celebration. “You stupid girl! He’ll be the end of you, you hear me?! He’ll be the end of you!”

There was a tap on her shoulder and she turned her head to see what it was.

Spender stood a few inches away from her. Behind him, the ghosts were piled on top of each-other, fading away with each passing moment. He tilted his head innocently at her, cocky smile planted on his lips. He raised his watch to her eye-level. “If you’ll excuse me, I think it’s about time for me to find my other students. Have a wonderful eternal slumber!” With that, he pulled his fist back and threw it forward.

\-- Beach Square --

Cindy bent down and grabbed max from behind, digging her head into his back as he covered Isaac’s head with his body.

All three of them were screaming.

“If I don’t survive this and either of you do, tell Ed I love him!”

“Sure!” Both shouted back.

“And freaking confess already! Everybody knows but you two!”

“What?!”

All three of them sat there in silence, waiting for the crash of water that was bound to overtake them and sweep them away to a death they didn’t want, but it never came. Instead, they felt the light tap of water against their knees and feet.

Max was the first one to risk a peek.

“Uh, guys?”

“Yeah?” Isaac still had his eyes squeezed shut and his voice was really high for him.

“I… think we’re safe?”

Both Cindy and Isaac opened their eyes to look. Both of them found the same thing Max did- softly crashing waves that acted as they normally would. All three of them blinked, staring at the water vacantly with a general air of confusion among them.

From the water something big and round rose, scaring the three of them enough to back away as quickly as they could. Cindy’s energy was wiped out and so was Isaac’s. Max would be the only one able to fight and that would not get them very far.

Before they had time to scream or Max had time to prepare for battle, the shield of water fell and revealed Spender, Ed, and Isabel.

Ed snickered and waved. “Hey, guys!”

“Ed!” Cindy unwound her arms from around Max and ran toward her boyfriend. Ed looked shocked to see her, but opened his arms anyway and caught her in an embrace that swept her off the floor and spun her around. Spender raised an eyebrow and pointed at Cindy, looking to Isabel for a very urgent answer. Isabel winced and looked over at them. “Cindy, what are you doing here?!” When Ed finally pulled away, he had a look of complete concern on his face.

“You weren’t answering my texts or your phone so I went looking for you.”

“You wouldn’t just assume I fell asleep? It was almost midnight, Cindy!”

She gave him a blank stare, eyes narrowing sardonically. Ed chuckled and glanced at the ground. “Yeah, that was a pretty dumb thing to say.”

“Um, I don’t believe we’ve met? You’re a friend of Ed’s?”

Cindy pulled away to see the hand Mister Spender offered, eyes lighting up in excitement. “Oh, Mister Spender! I’ve heard so much about you!” She reached out and shook his hand rapidly enough to pull him up and down. He retracted his hand and laughed nervously. “Ah, yes. How much has Ed told you about me, exactly?”

“Oh everything! You’re such a courageous leader and you simply always know what to do! You’re an inspiration!”

Spender’s face heated up and he looked at Ed questioningly. Isabel snorted. “Did Ed really say all of that?”

“Absolutely not. He told me about Mister Spender’s accomplishments as a teacher and I drew my own conclusions.”

Ed rubbed the back of his neck anxiously and shrugged his shoulders at Isabel, who was crossing her arms and giving him a look of disbelief. In a desperate attempt to change the subject, he looked around and found the eyes of Max and Isaac. “Are you two in a romantic embrace?”

Both of them blushed and Max dropped Isaac on his head. “No!”

“Yes…” Cindy mumbled under her breathe.


	11. Chapter 11

“I can’t believe this week flew by so quickly.” Max lamented, leaning back in his chair at the bar. Isaac sat next to him with a smoothie in hand, pink straw in his mouth. The sun was rising on their final day in the rental house, and everybody was feeling the pain of going back to school- even Spender, who was making the most of what time he had left by doing everything he possibly could (skydiving, water gliding, etc…). Ed and Isabel followed Cindy back to her house earlier in the day, so it was only the two of them left until Spender got back. “I know. It almost seems like a waste of a break. We spent most of our time tracking down a bad guy. I mean, we got a few fun days in, but beside that we really wasted it.”

Isaac rested his chin in his hand, bored lidded eyes running over the counter’s design like he was trying to memorize it. Max knew he probably wasn’t. There was something on his mind. He decided not to pry, though. Conversations were awkward enough after the…

Max willed the memory of their kiss away. It wasn’t like it’d been a real kiss. It was called the kiss of life, but kisses weren’t always anything more than platonic or familial. Sometimes he thought about asking Isaac what it was and if it was meant to get so personal, but the fear of Isaac reacting negatively was something he wasn’t sure he could handle. Well, he could handle it he just wasn’t sure he wanted to or was ready to.

“Hey, Max?”

“Yeah?”

“I uh, wanted to talk to you about what happened a few days ago.”

And yet there the dreaded conversation was, smacking Max right in the face because fate never really did anything but screw him. “What about it?” Like any person would, he tried to sound nonchalant about, even going as far as to trace patterns in the counter with his finger. “I was just wondering, um, if I could tell you what I’ve been thinking about it.” Though it was definitely a statement, Isaac’s voice quivered like it was a question. Max’s heart raced in his chest. He fought to keep his hand in his lap where it’d been the entire time and not grasp his chest to calm himself down. As far as tells went, that would have been pretty forward. “Shoot.”

He didn’t look at Isaac, but he could feel him shuffle in his seat uncomfortably.

“So um, I noticed that when I was trying to get you to wake up, things got a little” Isaac coughed “heated between us.” Max said nothing, but every bone in his body was screaming. His brain was too fuzzy and too light to listen to anything the rest of his body had to say though, so he remained still. “I’ve never um, done anything like that before- kissing people I mean, not just guys I- oh god that sounded horrible.”

Max shrugged his shoulders as a signal to get him to continue, but he still wouldn’t look Isaac in the eye. There was a buildup inside of him, such a cluster of emotions flowing up from his stomach into his chest like the water he’d almost drowned in- yet somehow more intoxicating.

Isaac sighed and hung his head. “What I’m trying to say is, that was my first kiss and it was an accident.”

That was game over. Max’s heart dropped ten floors and crash-landed into the cement sidewalk below. People would send get-well cards and flowers but Max wasn’t sure it would ever really snap back into action. Everything else felt numb, like he hadn’t just heard that. He hadn’t just hit the wall he’d been so scared of. Max’s stomach felt like it was flying to stay above the acid bound to form and his shoulders almost felt the same way. His finger stopped tracing the counter, and in place his hand stilled and went flat, his palm pressed against the granite. “I just don’t want things to be weird between us, you know? I don’t know if you heard me back then but-!”

“I heard you. I’m your best friend and you don’t wanna lose me. I get that.”

His voice came remarkably calmly for what he was feeling. He was impressed by his own ability to keep his voice from cracking. “Yeah… yeah! That’s exactly it!” Isaac’s voice was cheery and bouncy, delighted at whatever he thought he caught in Max’s tone. He didn’t need to build a spectral barrier to keep his emotions and Isaac at a distance. “So you feel the same way, then? That was just an accident?”

There were lots of things Max could have said. He could have said yes, that was what it was. He could have placed too much emphasis on how much he agreed with Isaac. He could have said ‘yep’ and left it at that.

Max simply nodded.

Before he knew what happened, Isaac’s arms encircled him entirely, his face digging right into Max’s shoulder. “Oh thank god! I was really worried this conversation was going to be a lot more awkward than this! I nearly expected you to laugh in my face!”

The situation became too real. Reality finally started to hit him. All of the emotions he’d been blocking broke right through the wall, and Isaac’s hug felt akin to somebody choking him. Everything was dreadful. His heart was pounding painfully in his chest- and not in the same way Isaac usually had it going. His throat was getting tight.

For the first time in a long while, Maxwell Puckett felt like crying.

When Isaac pulled away, there was a smile on Max’s face a mile wide and it was unsettling and entirely weird for him- not for Ed, but for him. Isaac balked and cocked an eyebrow. “Clearly I’m not the only one who thought this was going to be more awkward. I don’t wanna know what you thought was going to happen if you’re that happy it went like this.”

Max laughed and slapped Isaac on the back repeatedly. “Of course! I was almost expecting you to say ‘Max, I like you’ or something weird like that! Really glad you didn’t! That would have been awkward! Hah hah hah!”

Isaac winced as each slap got progressively more violent. “Ow, Max! Take it down a notch!” He lightly gripped Max’s wrist and pulled it out of his personal space. Max readily took it back, like Isaac’s touch had burned him.

“Sure thing, buddy! Friend! Amigo! Pal!”

“Max you’re acting really weird.”

“What?!” Max took a step back like he’d been wounded. “Weird?! Wow, tell me what ya really think, Isaac!” He winked and nudged Isaac with his elbow, hard enough that Isaac recoiled at the contact. Max mentally slapped himself into another dimension. That forced laughing sounded fake to his own ears. He couldn’t imagine Isaac didn’t pick up the hint, either. “Anyway, I’ve still gotta toss my stuff in the trunk! Catch ya on the flip side!”

'Flip side? Really? Wow, Max. Get it together.'

“Hey, Max wait-!” Isaac reached a hand after Max, but he disappeared down the hallway before he got a word out. His eyes narrowed, but he shrugged it off and got off his stool to place his cup in the sink. Somewhere along the line, he’d finished the smoothie that’d been half-full when he started the conversation with Max.

He forgot to toss the pink straw in the trash.

Once Max was alone in the room he’d shared with Isaac, he leaned his back against the door.

The room was pretty much empty, save for his stuff which was thrown haphazardly around the room. There were a few shirts slung over a chair and some pants on the floor next to the bathroom. Any sign of Isaac had been cleared from their room hours ago.

Max slid down the door, took his cap in his hands, and sat in silence for a good half-hour.

\-- Baldon Residence --

“Are you sure you want me here for this?”

Isabel sighed and rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. Ed held Cindy’s hand in one of his and Isabel’s sleeve in the other. She could feel him shaking and it was kinda funny how something so normal could make him so scared. Cindy blinked at Ed and kissed his cheek. “He definitely wants you here, Isabel. Moral support and all that.” She frowned and placed her free hand on her hip. “Even though I’m telling you, you have nothing to worry about Eddy.”

“You say that but they’ve managed to scare off all of your other boyfriends. What will they do to me?!”

Cindy and Isabel rolled their eyes together. “First of all, you’re a spectral. You can handle yourself when someone threatens your life.” Isabel still wasn’t used to Cindy, but she was much more comfortable with her knowing she was a spectral. It was something even Ed hadn’t known, surprisingly enough. She had to admit, she was curious about where she’d been training if she wasn’t in the Activity Club or at the dojo. It was partly why she’d agreed to come along. Now, she was not regretting the decision. Cindy’s house looked like a haunted mansion. Even though the day was bright and sunny, an eerie gloom shrouded the entire place in mystery and despair. If she wasn’t going to get a kick out of seeing Ed pee his pants, she’d at least get to see how Cindy trained.

“Second of all, I’ve never had another boyfriend.” Ed jumped and looked at her, eyes wide behind his glasses. “But I thought you said-?”

“You’re the only boyfriend I’ve ever had, Eddy!” She cupped his face in both her hands and kissed his nose gently. “I promise!”

A blush began coating his face, but Ed was still very plainly confused. “But you said that you’ve run into the problem of them scaring boys away before?”

“Not just boys, Ed. It’s girls, too. They’ve scared away all of my friends!” She giggled. “There’s a difference!” She tightened her grip on his hand and pulled him past the front gates that loomed over them, marching past stone gargoyles and spider webs. Isabel watched after them, touching the place where Ed’s been clinging before and smiled. “Well that’s not much better, is it?” She trailed after them, careful not to step in a booby-trap or whatever it is her family called security.

\-- Dining Room --

Dinner was awkward to say the least.

Cindy’s parents at on either end of a long table that reached either side of the room. The inside of the house wasn’t much lighter than the outside. Everything in the house was black, save for the blood red tablecloth that ran along the table. Ed sat across from Cindy, who was batting her eyelashes at him and trying desperately to place footsies under the table. Usually he would have obliged, but he was sat right next to a friend of Cindy’s father- Mister Bluett. While the man seemed friendly enough, making conversation and laughter where Cindy’s parents (with stern, rock-hard looks on their face) would not, Ed was not going to take the chance that it was some set-up to catch him treating their daughter inappropriately. Get comfortable with Mister Bluett. Let his guard down. Play footsies with Cindy under the table. Mister Bluett tells Mister Baldon. He challenges Ed to a battle to the death.

That’s what was going through his mind when he winced and shrugged his shoulders at her, folding his feet back under his seat.

Isabel sat next to Cindy, hiding her laughter as best as she could in her hand. She turned her head as far into her sleeve as she could without seeming suspicious, muffling her giggles.

“So, what is your name, child?”

Ed jumped when Cindy’s mother called him from the other end of the room.

“Um, my name is Ed Ma’am- Miss! Miss Baldon!”

“Surname?”

“Burger.”

She took a deep swig of her wine glass then shot a contemplative look at her husband on the other side of the room. “His Surname is Burger, darling.”

“Burger, hm?”

Cindy’s father leaned back in his seat, stroking his well-groomed beard. “I see…”

Ed gulped and looked at Cindy for guidance. She only tilted her head and smiled.

“What is your home-life like, Ed?”

Isabel shot Ed a defensive glance, communicating that he didn’t have to answer if it made him uncomfortable. She’d take care of them if trouble arose. They had no idea if her parents were spectrals, but she would take them down regardless. Ed returned her look with a warning one.

'Don’t get out of your seat just yet, Izzy.'

“I live in a dojo with Isabel.”

“Where are your parents?”

Ed’s eyes widened and Cindy’s jaw dropped. “Papa-!”

“Let him speak, Cindy.” Her mother waved for her to sit back down. Isabel had hardly noticed Cindy had stood. “If Ed doesn’t want to answer, he doesn’t have to.”

“No, I need to answer.” Ed shook his head and looked her father in the eyes. “I don’t know where my parents are. They’re gone and they left me in Isabel’s family’s care and I’ve grown up with them pretty much my whole life. I know Cindy will miss out on a lot of things if our relationship lasts us through high-school, like shopping for a wedding dress with her mother-in-law. Thanksgivings and holidays and stuff will be weird, but I promise you,” Ed’s hands clenched under the table “I want your daughter to shop for a wedding dress with my mom because I want her to be my bride. I want to give Cindy everything she deserves and I want to be everything she’s ever needed. I don’t know if ‘Cindy Burger’ has a nice ring to it, but I like it because that means she’s mine- and I mean that in the least possessive way possible.”

Isabel’s jaw stayed dropped, but it wasn’t in rage anymore. She knew Ed liked Cindy and she knew he liked her a lot, but she’d never seen him stand up to an adult like he just had. It was obvious he was nervous, and probably really scared, but he’d done it anyway. He’d faced the barking dog head-on and stood his ground. She could feel pleasured surprise coming off of Cindy in waves from her side. Mister Bluett dabbed his lips with his napkin, but she could still see his mischievous smile very clearly.

Cindy’s parents stared at each-other; green eyes wide open for what seemed to be the longest time.

There was a cough from Ed’s side of the room.

Bluett raised his glass and nudged Ed lightly with his elbow. “Well, what do we all say to dessert?”

\-- Living Room --

Ed didn’t know what to do with himself. Cindy had been sent upstairs- not because she was in trouble, but because they wanted to speak with Ed alone. Not even Isabel remained in the room. Cindy dragged her upstairs with her, talking about ‘showing her where she trained’.

He sat on one red couch and they sat on the other, both of them with their legs and arms crossed. Ed nearly crossed his own legs and arms, but decided it against it.

“Cindy is a great girl.” He managed to say.

It was stupid. He’d already said everything he wanted to say before dessert, so why even bother repeating himself. They’d come to the same decision anyway.

“Yes, she really is.” Cindy’s father mumbled.

Then all was silent again.

The tension was driving Ed insane. He wanted the entire event to be over so badly.

Finally, Cindy’s mother coughed into her hand and spoke. “Ed, I’m very sorry but we can’t have you courting our daughter anymore.”

His heart sunk into the deepest pits of his stomach. His body was starting to shake again, and he couldn’t even hide it. “You- you can’t be serious! Why?! I really like her!”

“We know you do, son” Cindy’s father said “it’s just…”

“It’s just what?! Am I really that bad for her?!”

Cindy’s mother frowned at him and raised her hand in the air flatly, only to lower it. “Sit down, boy.”

Ed hadn’t even noticed he’d stood. Quietly, he nodded and took his seat. He stayed bent over, though, leaning his forearms on his thighs and keeping his sight set on the floor.

“You aren’t bad for Cindy, at least” she paused and said gently “not by any fault of your own.”

“What’s that mean?” He was too weak to deal with any of this. When Cindy was called back down stairs, he’d have to be the one to tell her they couldn’t see each-other anymore. He certainly wasn’t going to let her parents do it. There wasn’t an answer for the longest time, but eventually Cindy’s father broke the ice again.

“You don’t remember us, do you Ed?”

The use of his name was enough to confuse him, but the sentence itself was mind-boggling. Ed turned his head up just enough to see their faces. “What do you mean?”

Cindy’s mother glanced to the side and frowned deeply- and not sternly like she’d been doing all night. Whatever wall she’d had up fell and it was hard for her to keep her emotions under control. He could tell by the way the corners of her lips twitched just like…

That was a weird thought.

Just like who?

He was sitting up completely now, back pressed straight against the couch.

“We didn’t mean to upset you at dinner, child. We just” she sighed “had to be sure.”

“Sure of what?”

“Ed,” Cindy’s father leaned over in a similar way Ed had been, but faced him with an apologetic expression “this is probably going to come as a shock to you, but you need to hear it.”

“Hear what?!”

He was getting scared. How was he supposed to know them? What was he supposed to remember?

Cindy’s mother stood and walked over, taking a seat beside him on the couch and wrapping both of his hands in her own. They felt familiar in a way that was upsetting him, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear anything she was about to say.

“Ed, I’m your mother’s sister.”

“You’re my…?”

“I’m your aunt. Cindy is your cousin.”

 

“You called, Papa? Mama?”

When Cindy saw her mother sitting next to a very pale, very horrified-looking Ed, she frowned and rushed over to him, hopping down the last three steps of the staircase just to get to him faster. Isabel was slower getting down the stairs, cautious of the spider webs that littered the railing. She didn’t have anything against spiders; she just didn’t much enjoy the idea of getting bitten by one.

She stopped two stairs before the floor, shocked to see Cindy bent in front of Ed, holding his hands.

Cindy was almost upset that he refused to tangle their fingers, but she wasn’t going to force him.

“Eddy, what’s wrong?”

“Cindy…” He was sweating like it was summer, and she turned to tell her father to turn on the fans. “No, don’t. That’s not what’s bothering me.”

“Then what is bothering you?” She leaned in closer, but Ed pulled back. “Cindy, I don’t know how to say this.”

“Say what?”

Ed took a deep breath and squeezed her hands. “Cindy, you’re my cousin.”

The room was silent, Cindy staring back at Ed with wonder in her eyes, like he was joking with her. That small, laughing smile even came across her lips and he had to smack himself for even thinking about kissing her again.

“That bothers you?”

“What?” He didn’t just hear her say that. “Cindy… I mean it. You’re my cousin- by blood.”

“So?”

“So?!”

Cindy’s mother- Matilda, he’d found out she was named- shook her head and sighed. “Cindy, a romantic relationship with your cousin is simply unnatural.”

“But royal families do it all the time!”

He heard Cindy’s father- Confucius (odd name, Ed thought) - mumbled under his breathe. “Should have never read her that one fairytale…”

“Cindy, that’s what royals used to do! Used to! It was to keep the bloodline pure, but that doesn’t work in the modern-day age. You heard him planning marriage earlier! It’s not even legal to marry your cousin in Mayview!”

Isabel fell to sit on the stairs, watching the scene transpire with a worried stare.

She had no idea how Ed was going to walk out of this one.

(On the other hand, that explained where Cindy was being trained. Having older spectrals in the family certainly helped.)

 

“So um…” Isabel rubbed the back of her neck, glancing any direction but Ed as they walked home together. “I’m sorry about your girlfriend… uh, cousin.”

“It’s fine. Somebody would have told me eventually.” Ed’s laugh was hollow and sad, and she didn’t know what to do to fix it. Isabel exhaled as quietly as she could before looking at him. His eyes were casted to the sidewalk as he kicked a pebble along the way home.

“I’m also really sorry for the way I acted back at the beach.”

“What?”

Isabel laughed under her breathe and sped up a little so she was ahead of Ed. She was feeling at her weakest and she hated letting anybody, even him, see her like that. “It’s just that, you and Cindy were getting really close really fast, you know? I was kind of…” she shrugged “I was kind of jealous. I’ve always relied a lot on you and Mister Spender, so the thought of being left alone was kind of scary.” She thought back to standing in front of the ocean, wiping tears from her eyes with a phone in her hand that just kept ringing. Isabel reminded herself of the decision she made at that moment. She intended fully to take whatever steps she needed to ensure she was changing, if not for herself but for the people she placed all of her problems on (namely the boy walking behind her and slightly to her left). “But I need to stand on my own without a safety net. So I’m sorry for giving you grief. You shouldn’t have had to deal with that. I was insecure and selfish and I was worrying way too much about myself. I should have been thinking about you and I can’t apologize enough for that.”

A soft hand wound around hers, silently pleading her to slow down.

“Izzy…”

Isabel didn’t put up a fight. She turned around and looked at him. He was smiling at her. Even in the poor illumination of the light-post they stood under, he was shining like he always did. “You don’t need to apologize. When I was looking for you, I realized I’d feel the exact same way if I was in your position.” His smile faded as the thoughts returned to him. “I think I might be worse if you just up and left me for some guy I didn’t even know existed. I’m surprised you didn’t burn the dojo down the night I told you. I would've.” He laughed and shook his head. “But no, Izzy. You don’t need to apologize. Everybody needs someone there when things get tough.” He squeezed her hand in support. Isabel stood there with her lips slightly parted, the cogs in her mind turning as fast as they could go to catch up with what she’d just heard. But Isabel just needed to know he was still right there and they were still a team. All other information could be tossed.

She smiled and lifted her other hand to wipe at tears she didn’t know were falling. They’d come slowly at first, but started dropping in buckets before she’d even noticed. “Thanks, Ed. I really needed to hear that.”

They stood together under the dim light, giggling at nothing for what seemed like ever.

All of the tension and pain just disappeared. While she was sure they hadn’t seen the last of it, she was sure they were ready to tackle it next time. One day Ed would meet another girl or she’d find some guy and the course would start all over again, but tonight was not that night and she was going to face that problem when they came to it.

Gradually, their laughter faded until they were left just staring at each-other.

Ed’s smile softened right before some lightbulb seemingly went off in his head. “Hey, Izzy?”

“Yeah?”

She watched his eyes go from motivated to uncertain to determined. He didn’t say another word, only pulled her inches closer by the hand he still held so they were both directly under the lamp. Isabel knew what was coming before it even happened, and she was prepared for it.

Ed leaned up on his toes and pressed his lips to hers; kissing her so tenderly and softly she caught her breath. Isabel thought she’d known what to expect but her skin was tingling where they touched. She closed her eyes and responded, all-too happily. Isabel could feel him relax the moment he felt the pressure of her lips, like he was relieved and hadn’t known she’d react in that way.

His other hand reached out to hold her empty one and she tangled their fingers together.

Ed pulled her even closer. She felt his lips thinning and recognized that he was being Ed and grinning. Just as always, his smile was contagious and she found she couldn’t stop her own lips from twisting upward. He had that effect on her. His vibes never failed.

When they finally pulled away, just a few centimeters, they both cackled and shook their heads, laughing at each-other and at the situation.

“Let’s never do that again. That was weird.”

“Agreed.”

\-- Se Llama Giancarlo --

Max was the last one to be dropped off, and he was kind of thankful for that. He wasn’t sure he could have taken one more second near Isaac- not for the rest of the weekend. The effects of rejection would mainly ware off by the time the school week came around. At least, he hoped. There was no telling where their relationship would be heading. Either Max would keep up the façade of being perfectly fine for Isaac’s sake, or he’d strain his emotional capacity and stop caring.

“Max… about Isaac’s ‘secret friend’.”

From his place in the backseat, Max tore his head from the window to look at him, eyes wide in terror. That was right. They hadn’t actually fixed that, had they?

“Um, Mister Spender? About that…”

“It’s alright. I understand why you were acting so elusive this week.”

“You do?” Oh god, oh god, oh god! If there was one thing neither he nor Isaac needed, it was Spender finding out about Doorman.

“Of course! I was a young, curious man once, myself.”

Max’s anxiety dropped to below zero, his expression going with it. “What?”

“I understand now that what he said was personal and by no means hinting at any secret. Well, yes a secret but not one the Consortium cares to know about. His relationships are his own and we will not get in the way of whatever road you two may or may not choose to take together.”

Max stared at the back of Spender’s seat vacantly, trying to piece together what he’d just heard. “Okay, color me confused.”

The teacher readjusted his rearview mirror to get a better look at his student, an all-knowing eyebrow raised impishly. “I saw the way you were holding him on Beach Square, Max. I must say that referring to your first same-gendered ‘companion’ as a ‘secret friend’ is a bit strange, but I see why he did it.”

Max’s eyes widened as he realized what Spender meant. He was quickly reminded of the situation he’d trapped himself in, his eyes becoming half-lidded and dark. Max leaked his black spectral aura, but he didn’t really notice. “Oh… yeah. I um, I think we’re over anyway, if that helps.” The words left him before he even knew they were coming. He berated himself for letting his disappointment through. It’d just been stuck on his mind all day long and it made repressing that feeling even harder.

“Really?” The teacher seemed shocked “But just three days ago-!”

“He’s not interested.”

“He’s not…?” Max groaned at the disbelieving tone in Spender’s voice and glared out the window. “I don’t know why I even told you that. You’re worse than my dad.” Actually, his father and teacher were on equal levels of Max’s nerves, but he wasn’t about to tell anybody that.

The rearview mirror moved. He’d had about enough of digging into Max. His student was visibly upset by the ordeal so it was better to drop it. If Max wanted to talk to him about it, he would. He knew Max liked keeping things to himself, especially things that hurt him. Spender was guilty of it himself- that was how he recognized it. When the time came, he was sure Max would talk to somebody, even if it wasn’t him.

Max’s head fell against the glass next to his head. He watched the city fly past him, along with assortments of spirits so different he still had a hard time wrapping his head around all of it. He could still see the beach, but it was distant and felt even further than it was.

“Hey, how did Velda end up on Mayview Beach?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Man’s Rise Cave is where she died, right? Well that’s all the way on the other side of town. How did her ghost end up on the beach if her body’s that far away?”

“Excellent question, Max. Actually, I wondered the same thing. Naturally, I looked into and, as it turns out, there was a pipeline running under Man’s Rise Cave that lead directly to Mayview Beach.” His eyes narrowed in thought. “Her body must have been sucked into the pipeline before she truly departed from it. She had to have woken up underwater and realized what had happened. Interesting stuff, isn’t it, Max?” When Max didn’t respond, he called again. “Max?”

As he pulled in front of the Corner Store, Spender twisted in his seat to see why he wasn’t responding. Max’s weight was put entirely on the door as his face slid down the window. The boy was fast asleep.

Spender smiled and got out of his car, waving to Max’s father who stood at the counter with the register.

Zoey rushed down the stairs to see her brother the moment Spender walked through the doors carrying him. He bent down and she leaned up on her toes to get a look at her older brother. “Aww, he’s so cute when he’s sleeping!” She pulled away snickering and he could have sworn he heard her say something about ‘ruining that face with marker while he slept’.

“Thank you so much for driving him home.”

“It was no problem, really! Ed and Isabel left earlier in the day so I only had to drive two kids home!”

Max’s dad opened his arms and Spender cautiously passed Max on, taking special care not to wake him up. He barely caught Max’s cap as it fell off and placed it back on the sleeping batter’s head. “Have a good night.”

“You, too!”

The only thing that bothered Spender on his drive home was the fact that there were three of them. There were three traitors and so far, two of them had come back for revenge. Would the third? It wasn’t exactly out of the question, but he wasn’t entirely sure how to pinpoint when and where the third traitor would strike. Once he reached home, he collapsed into his bed face-down and didn’t get up for hours.

If the third traitor did come, they would just have to be ready.


End file.
